“Republicans are showing signs of picking their battles against President Trump, with the administration’s handling of military strikes on alleged drug boats in the Caribbean serving as the latest catalyst,” NewsNation reports.

“Republicans in Congress have been exceedingly deferential to the White House for much of Trump’s first year back in office, but lawmakers have shown an increased willingness to speak out about their concerns with the administration, particularly when it comes to foreign policy.”

“MAGA entered the year at the apex of its power, but has become mired in its most bitter infighting since its founding by President Trump in 2015,” Axios reports.

“If the base can unite during the holidays against its perceived enemies — Democratic lawmakers branded ‘the seditious six,’ former FBI Director James Comey, the media — it might help the right turn a painful page.”

“If not, the turmoil could become a systemic problem that plagues MAGA through the midterms.”

Politico: How Trump’s base could break.

Politico Poll: “More than half of Trump’s voters last year — 55% — describe themselves as MAGA, but a critical 38% do not, according to the survey.”

“And it’s here where the fissures start to emerge: Among those self-described MAGA voters, 47% say the current economy still belongs fully to Biden, compared to just 26% of non-MAGA Trump 2024 voters.”

“This divide becomes even starker on areas Republicans typically don’t own, like health care, where the White House is struggling to forge a path to extend expiring Affordable Care Act subsidies: 85% of MAGA Trump voters trust Republicans more to bring down health care costs, whereas just 55 percent of non-MAGA do — with 19% instead trusting Democrats and 27% saying they don’t know.”

Tucker Carlson leveled a scorched earth attack on the Republican Party on The Shawn Ryan Show and went so far as to declare: “I’m going to have to oppose it because I hate them too much.”

He added: “That is the argument right now. Does the Republican Party exist to help its voters? Does every voter actually, every citizen, or does it exist for some other boutique corrupt reason, like serving a foreign government, serving your donors?”

“For years, Jewish Republicans often denied that the right had a serious problem with antisemitism, pointing instead to anti-Jewish bigotry on the left and celebrating President Trump’s support for Israel,” the New York Times reports.

“But now that problem is staring them directly in the face.”

“Tensions over antisemitism in the party, free speech and Israel have burst to the forefront of G.O.P. politics, and show signs of becoming a fierce point of contention in 2026 primary races and beyond.”

Idrees Kahloon: “The reality that Donald Trump’s presidency will end in January 2029 is already making Republicans restless. Normally, Trump angers, exhausts, and eventually prevails over elected Republicans—not vice versa. Just this week, though, rebellious Republicans forced the release of the so-called Epstein files in defiance of Trump, who had spent months trying to suppress them before abruptly reversing course.”

“Plenty of other cracks are showing too: Staunch allies of the president are mouthing critiques that would have been unfathomable a year ago. These disputes are the prelude to an ugly battle over the post-Trump Republican Party.”

Washington Post: “Greene’s split with Trump, which unfolded over issues ranging from foreign workers to the push to release government files on convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, is testing the president’s command of the ‘America First’ movement he mobilized.”

“Trump recently called Greene a ‘traitor,’ withdrew his endorsement of her reelection and encouraged a primary challenge in 2026. But many Republican leaders and voters in Greene’s deep-red district say they are sticking with her, boosting her bid to carve out a populist MAGA brand independent of the president.”

Michelle Goldberg: “The last wretched decade shows that reports of a MAGA crackup ought to be viewed somewhat skeptically. There have, after all, been many moments when Trump seemed to be losing his grip on the right, only for his hold to grow stronger.”

“But a few things are different now. In his first term, Trump inherited a good economy from Barack Obama, and the establishment Republicans who surrounded him prevented him from tanking it with major trade wars or mass deportations. Much of Trump’s base distrusted these figures, seeing them as part of a deep state cabal trying to thwart his populist agenda. But they shielded the country from at least part of the price of Trump’s erraticism.”

“This time, however, Trump came into office with a much shakier economy, and, unrestrained by Washington technocrats, has proceeded to make it worse, putting the country in a sour mood.”

Tim Carney: “Here’s one measure of the partisan shift in the Trump era: In 2016, Republicans controlled 31 governorships and 68 legislative chambers. Come January, the GOP will control only 26 governorships and 57 legislative chambers (more than a 15% reduction on both scores).”

“In the Trump era, here’s the rule: Elections in which Trump is on the ballot, the GOP does fine. In elections in which he is not, the GOP does poorly…”

“This is a big problem for Republicans because Trump will never be on a ballot nationwide again. It’s very possible that after Trump is gone, Republicans will experience their darkest hour and lowest point since the New Deal.”

Ali Breland: “Republicans are so at odds about how to handle Fuentes’s encroachment into their ranks that many commentators have likened their infighting to a civil war and posed it as a battle for the soul of the conservative movement. The critics of the Groypers themselves tend to downplay the scale of the conflict. They have suggested that the deeply bigoted factions of the right are a vocal but tiny minority that can be excised.”

Paul Krugman: “Like almost all progressives, I was infuriated and disheartened by Senate Democrats’ cave on the shutdown Sunday. The party won stunning election victories Tuesday — and its leaders responded with yet another preemptive surrender? (Chuck Schumer may have voted no, but he didn’t manage, and may not even have tried, to prevent defections.)”

“Yet while the immediate politics displayed Democratic tactical weakness, the larger story highlighted a different kind of weakness on the part of Donald Trump and MAGA as a whole — namely, their innate cruelty. They have a visceral dislike for policies that do anything to help the less fortunate, and can’t even bring themselves to be cynical, to help Americans temporarily while they consolidate power.”

“Sometimes, it’s good to touch the hot stove.”

— A Trump adviser, quoted by Axios, arguing that Republicans across the board need to wake up to political reality.

Wired: “Nick Fuentes, a white nationalist known for his deeply antisemitic, racist, and misogynist worldview, just might be tearing the Republican party apart.”

“The schism was triggered last Tuesday when former Fox News host Tucker Carlson released an in-depth interview with Fuentes, the leader of the so-called America First movement who has denied the Holocaust, praised Hitler, and shared deeply misogynistic views.”