Seismic Power Shift to "We the People" as GOP Defies Trump
A Weakening Grip on Executive Power
A recent high-stakes political battle over government funding has revealed deep fractures in Republican solidarity and a notable shift in political power. The situation culminated in a rare and open defiance of Donald Trump by his own party leaders in the Senate.
Noted historian Heather Cox Richardson recently weighed in on the situation, observing that Senate defiance signals a weakening of Trump’s iron grip on the GOP.
Richardson also stressed the fact the political ground is now shifting, moving power away from the White House and back toward everyday Americans.
Senate Republicans Reject Trump’s Filibuster Order
Trump’s numbers plummeted during the shutdown he engineered. He decided at that point to escalate his demands, ordering Senate Republicans to “nuke the filibuster.”
His motive, according to Richardson, was explicitly anti-democratic and self-serving. He wanted the filibuster eliminated “because he then wanted to force the Republicans to push through all kinds of measures that would guarantee nobody could ever knock him out of office.”
This was a direct order from the White House to Senate Republicans: dismantle Senate procedure so he could entrench his own power and disenfranchise millions of American voters.
Then, the previously unthinkable happened. Republicans refused. Richardson explains they “basically said, ‘We are willing to negotiate with the Democrats because we don’t want to nuke the filibuster and do what Trump says.’”
This act of defiance was a seismic shift in the political landscape.
Speaker Johnson Blindsided
The Senate GOP’s refusal to obey Trump’s order had an immediate, cascading effect. The most prominent victim was House Speaker Mike Johnson, who was blindsided by the Senate’s move to end the shutdown.
Richardson explained that Johnson, “doing Trump’s bidding,” had sent the House of Representatives home, believing the shutdown battle would continue.
The Senate’s negotiated continuing resolution effectively told the Speaker, “Get your butts back into those chairs. You need to come back and do some work, and the first thing you’re going to have to do is take on our bill.”
The Senate’s bill, SA 3937, was a complex, long-term package extending funding to January 30, 2026, and including three full-year appropriations bills.
Crucially, the Senate bill included provisions like Sec. 120, which prohibits the firing of federal workers and voids previous firings, and guarantees payment of wages to furloughed workers.
The measure also provided funding for programs like SNAP and WIC (Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children) through September 30, 2026 (the end of the fiscal year).
The Epstein Files
The Senate’s maneuver, forcing the House back into session, did more than just humiliate Johnson.
As Richardson explained, it “forced House Speaker Mike Johnson’s hand in swearing in Adelita Grijalva of Arizona.” Grijalva won her special election on September 23, 2025, but Johnson had refused to seat her for seven weeks, denying her district representation.
Once Johnson swears her in, she says she will be the final signature on the discharge petition that will force the House to vote on releasing the Epstein files.
A Web of Panic and External Challenges
Trump is facing serious challenges to his power from multiple directions. The looming vote on the Epstein files highlights a “deeply, deeply problematic” vulnerability for the administration.
This legal and personal pressure is manifesting as “panic from him,” Richardson explained.
Richardson notes she saw it “at about a little after 2:00 this morning [Tuesday],” when Trump “suddenly started tweeting about tariffs.” Experts predict SCOTUS will determine they are a form of taxation and will limit his power.
This panicked, insomniac behavior is coupled with a visible erosion of his public aura. Richardson observed, “Trump was booed at a football game... resoundingly booed. It’s worth listening to that; that seemed to me to be a really big deal,” since Trump consider football fans to be a part of his base.
⭐⭐ Support fearless, independent journalism that holds power accountable.⭐⭐
The Power Shifts to the American People
This cascade of political failures, legislative defeats, and public relations disasters is not random.
Richardson poses the operative question: “do you know why everybody is suddenly doing all kinds of stuff new, and running around, and apologizing, and trying new things...?”
Her answer is the central thesis for this entire moment. “Because the American people are finally stepping up and yelling.” This is not just a fleeting protest but a “dramatic change in American politics.”
New voices are demanding that their leaders be “much more assertive,” a phenomenon Richardson compares to the great political realignments of the 1850s, 1890s, and 1930s.
This popular pressure is having a direct, measurable effect on the political landscape. The ground itself is shifting.
Richardson points to recent election results as proof, noting that “a lot of the people who voted for Democratic candidates last Tuesday had voted MAGA in 2024. So all of a sudden, all that stuff is back on the table.”
This leads to her definitive conclusion about the future of American democracy. “I do think there is one group that is going to determine where it goes,” Richardson states, “and that’s us.”
The Future Is Ours to Determine
The political system, which for years felt calcified and broken, is now in flux. Richardson’s core analysis is one of profound, if cautious, optimism. “I think the weight of our political system has shifted to the American people,” she concludes, “and we can build on that.”
The defiance of Senate Republicans and the panicked, scrambling behavior of Trump are not the story itself; they are symptoms of this larger power shift. The entire political order is, in her words, “back on the table.”
The path forward, then, is not one of despair but of action. “Now is absolutely the time to speak up,” Richardson insists.
She offers a final instruction for navigating this new reality: “watch the people in power, who looks like they’re confident, and who’s scrambling. I’m not sure that there isn’t real concern that the people who are going to start running the table are people like us.”
Wow! Between your focus on the positive, and Heather's belief that "we don't know what tomorrow will bring, so why not hope for the best (as we keep our cameras handy and fight like hell), I'm beginning to have some hope myself!
This piece pulses with the quiet roar of change. It’s not just about politics it’s about people reclaiming their voice after years of feeling unheard. The defiance within the GOP isn’t just rebellion; it’s a reflection of a deeper shift, a collective awakening. Heather Cox Richardson’s words carry weight because they speak to something intimate: the moment we realise we’re not powerless. That we can shape the future, not just endure it. The image of citizens “finally stepping up and yelling” feels less like noise and more like music raw, imperfect, but beautifully alive. It’s not the end of something. It’s the beginning.