18 times GOP members criticized Trump (and how they all backed down)

No American president has ever had a disapproval rating as high as Donald Trump’s. A whopping 57 percent of Americans hold an unfavourable view of their president.

You’d think that if almost 60 percent of Americans dislike Donald Trump, his approval rating amongst the GOP can’t be that much higher, right?

Trump has structured his administration on an ideology of bootlicking and yes-men, and the GOP has had to adapt. This is a list of GOP politicians who issued scathing criticism of Trump, only to back down when the president showed them the carrot.

Nikki Hailey has been caught criticizing Trump multiple times.

As a presidential hopeful herself, it’s certain that Haley’s thoughts on the Don are at least in part impacted by their political rivalry. Haley has said a wide array of critical (and even insulting) comments about the least-popular president of all time.

In July 2023, Haley told CNBC, “We can’t have, as Republicans, him as the nominee. He can’t win a general election. That’s the problem. We’ve got to go and have someone who can actually win.”

In February 2024, Haley told The Wall Street Journal that making Trump the Republican nominee would be “like suicide for our country”.

Haley has gotten personal with her comments as well, after Trump was forced to pay E. Jean Carroll $83 million for defamation, Haley took to Twitter and said, “Donald Trump wants to be the presumptive Republican nominee and we’re talking about $83 million in damages. We’re not talking about fixing the border. We’re not talking about tackling inflation. America can do better than Donald Trump and Joe Biden.”

A jury verdict in May 2023 found Trump liable for sexually abusing and defaming Carroll in the 1990s, and ordered him to pay US$5 million in damages. Later, Trump would defame Carroll on social media and to the press, instigating the $83 million suit.

After Trump made inappropriate comments about Haley’s husband in February 2023, Haley responded in an interview on Today by calling Trump “unhinged” and “more diminished” than he was in 2016.

In 2023, Haley said that the U.S. should have a mental competency test for elected officials over the age of 75. The comments were certainly directed towards Donald Trump, Joe Biden, and Mitch McConnell. 

“The concern I have is—I’m not saying anything derogatory, but when you’re dealing with the pressures of the presidency, we can’t have someone else that we question whether they’re mentally fit to do this. My parents are up in age, and I love them dearly. But when you see them hit a certain age, there is a decline. That’s a fact—ask any doctor. There is a decline.”

Once Haley dropped out of the presidential race in 2024, she flipped on Trump completely.

At the 2024 Republican nominating convention, she made it clear, stating, “I’ll start by making one thing perfectly clear. Donald Trump has my strong endorsement — period.”

Nikki Haley was not given a role in Donald Trump’s administration after his election in 2024, a surely purposeful decision.

The Senator from Texas is another GOP politician who ran against Trump in a presidential race, and yet another who tried and failed to separate themselves from MAGA politics.

Starting strong, Cruz dipped into his right-wing bag of tricks and came out with this impressive insult in March 2016. After Trump made an inappropriate comment about Cruz’s wife, Cruz responded immediately, pointing a finger at Trump and loudly proclaiming, “Donald, you’re a snivelling coward. Leave Heidi the hell alone.”

When asked about the comment later, Cruz stated:

“It’s not easy to tick me off. I don’t get angry often, but you mess with my wife, you mess with my kids, that’ll do it every time,” 

We have to take our hats off to Cruz for an impressively accurate clocking of Trump’s fear-addled mind. 

Cruz highlighted Trump’s tendency to verbally attack any woman he perceives as a threat to his fragile masculinity, claiming that Trump’s behaviour are the actions of a “of a small and petty man who is intimidated by strong women.” He went on to state, “Real men don’t do that, and Donald is indicating the fear that keeps him up at night when he lashes out with anger.”

On the same topic, Cruz also stated that “Real men don’t try to bully women,” making Trump about the furthest thing from a ‘real’ man he could be. 

In Indiana in 2026, Cruz told voters at a rally, “I’m gonna tell you what I really think of Donald Trump: This man is a pathological liar. He doesn’t know the difference between truth and lies. He lies practically every word that comes out of his mouth, and in a pattern that I think is straight out of a psychology textbook, his response is to accuse everybody else of lying.”

An impressive display of truth from Mr. Cruz. 

In 2024, Cruz flipped on Trump, posting on Twitter, “I am proud to endorse Donald J. Trump for President. Now is the time for us to unite to oust Joe Biden and save our country from the Democrats’ destructive agenda.”

He doubled down in an interview with Sean Hannity, stating, “I look forward to supporting him enthusiastically.”

What. A. Crock. 

The current Chairman of the Senate Budget Committee has been critical of Trump since 2015, before flipping his opinion after the 2024 election. Grahams’ comments have varied from policy to personal since 2016. 

In 2016, Graham tweeted that, "If we nominate Trump, we will get destroyed ... and we will deserve it."

Almost ten years later, with America being violently divided and the Republican Party's approval rating in the gutter, Graham might just have been on to something.

In 2016, Graham told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer that, “[Trump] took our problems in 2012 with Hispanics and made them far worse by espousing forced deportation, looking back, we should have basically kicked him out of the party.”

A harsh criticism, and one I agree with wholeheartedly.

In the same interview with CNN, Graham warned Americans against voting for Trump, claiming, “Any time you ignore what could become an evil force, you wind up regretting it.”

There is certainly a lot of regret going on in America. 

In a 2015 interview with CNN, Graham called Trump a “race-baiting, xenophobic, religious bigot,” then later said, “You know how you make America great again? Tell Donald Trump to go to hell.”

In the same interview, Graham outlined why he wouldn’t endorse Trump.

“He doesn't represent my party. He doesn't represent the values that the men and women who wear the uniform are fighting for.”

Graham and Trump’s relationship seemed to change suddenly after Trump’s election in 2024. After Trump endorsed Graham for Senator, Graham wrote on Twitter: “President Trump’s endorsement means the world to me. I am humbled by his faith in me as a Senator and as a friend.”

He added, “On a professional level, I am proud to have been there at the beginning when President Trump — through sheer force of will —achieved the greatest political comeback in American history.” Graham finished by getting down and kissing the ring, “On a personal level, I genuinely enjoy our friendship. He’s an awesome golfing buddy, who I have yet to beat.”

And Trump seems to be on board for the collective amnesia, stating:

“Lindsey has been a wonderful friend to me, and has always been there when I needed him. As the Chair of the Senate Budget Committee, Lindsey is fighting tirelessly to Grow the Economy, Lower Taxes, and Eliminate Government Waste.”

Oh, and Lindsey Graham also supported Trump’s push for the Papacy, tweeting, “I was excited to hear that President Trump is open to the idea of being the next Pope. This would truly be a dark horse candidate, but I would ask the papal conclave and Catholic faithful to keep an open mind about this possibility!”

This is just insane. An evil force, a race-baiting, xenophobic, religious bigot, and a destructive person who should have been kicked out of the GOP, or the next pope? According to Lindsey, Trump is both!

Lindsey Graham said he would not accept an appointed role in the U.S. cabinet, and so far, he has held his word.

JD Vance could have an entire article dedicated to his scathing remarks about his current daddy, but instead, we’ll pick and choose a few examples to use. Vance ran alongside Trump in the 2024 election and is now the sitting vice president of the United States. Vance was the Senator for Ohio from 2023 to 2025

In a 2016 interview with Charlie Rose, Vance said he was a “Never Trump guy,” then said “As somebody who doesn’t like Trump, myself, I sort of — I understand where Trump’s voters come from, but I also don’t like Trump himself, and that made me realize that maybe I’m not quite part of either world totally.”

An impressive display of verbal acrobatics while managing to say nearly nothing. 

It seems Vance even clocked Trump’s turn to fascism before the democrats. In a leaked private Facebook message from 2016, Vance likened Trump to the most famous violent dictator of all time, claiming Trump could be “America’s Hitler.”

Again, Vance didn’t mince words within the illusion of safety. Vance wrote an op-ed for the New York Times, claiming that “Mr. Trump is unfit for our nation’s highest office.”

To be fair, the op-ed was not overtly critical of Trump, but instead rationalized how his political style attracted a large supporter base. I guess Vance decided, if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em.

In since-deleted Tweets, Vance wrote, “My god, what an idiot,” and claimed he would be voting for third-party candidate Evan McMullin. The tweet was included in the ads from Club for Growth Action and USA Freedom Fund.

In an interview with NPR, Vance said, “I can’t stomach Trump,” when describing why he would vote for a third-party candidate. He continued to say, “I think that he’s noxious and is leading the white working class to a very dark place.”

Vance’s flip started before he was named Trump’s running mate. Vance went on FOX to explain his apparent change in ideology.

"Look, I was wrong about Donald Trump," he told FOX host Brett Baier. "I didn't think he was gonna be a good president, Bret. He was a great president. And it's one of the reasons why I'm working so hard to make sure he gets a second term."

He said in a 2024 interview over the phone, “I think there are so many reasons I was wrong about Trump, but I’m happy that I was wrong about Trump.”

At a rally in Delaware, Vance finished his bootlicking with a cherry on top, insinuating the President is an all-knowing being, and Vance, just a mere mortal, cowering under Donald’s awe-inspiring shadow.

“The president is right. I wasn’t always nice,” Vance said. “But the simple fact is, he’s the best president of my lifetime, and he revealed the corruption in this country like nobody else.”

It takes true bravery to push aside your beliefs and morals, and JD Vance has managed to overcome the suffocating weight of his own principles in order to emerge from his cocoon as a full-fledged yes-man, completely devoid of independent thought, and woefully incapable of critical thinking.

In case you can’t tell, the GOP is stuck in a cycle of yes-sir, ingesting a steady diet of cognitive dissonance and blind acceptance.

The GOP does not care about America or the impact Donald Trump will have. Republican politicians are no more than puppets in Trump’s regime, and they don’t seem to have a problem sitting, rolling over, and shaking hands with whomever Trump orders.