President Trump on Saturday rolled out a number of important endorsements for the coming elections, making it clear that he will seek retribution against anyone who has wronged him — even if the perceived slight was years ago. One of those lawmakers now on the president’s bad side is Senator Bill Cassidy, the chairman of the Senate’s health committee who has spent the last year trying to avoid such a fate. 

Unlike during his first term, the president has not been as concerned about domestic politics over the course of the last year. He has only done a handful of rallies to tout his own record, and even complained publicly about his staff wanting him to go out on the campaign trail for Republicans in Congress. 

The only Republican in Congress who has been consistently attacked by Mr. Trump is Congressman Thomas Massie, the libertarian who has voted against a number of Mr. Trump’s policies and who led the charge to force a disclosure of the Epstein files.

The president’s retributive streak came out again on Saturday, however, when he said he would back a conservative Louisiana lawmaker, Congresswoman Julia Letlow, over Dr. Cassidy in the 2026 Senate race. 

“I know Julia well, have seen her tested at the highest and most difficult levels, and she is a TOTAL WINNER! A Proud Mother of two children, Julia is a wonderful person, has ALWAYS delivered for Louisiana, and would continue doing so in the United States Senate,” Mr. Trump wrote without mentioning Dr. Cassidy’s name. Ms. Letlow has not yet announced her candidacy, though the president’s pre-emptive endorsement would likely make her the frontrunner if she were to run. 

Dr. Cassidy has voted with Mr. Trump on nearly every important legislative and procedural battle of the last ten years, except for one — the senator voted to convict Mr. Trump in his impeachment trial following the attack at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021. “I voted to convict President Trump because he is guilty,” Dr. Cassidy said in a statement after the Senate trial. 

As chairman of the Senate’s Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, Dr. Cassidy has tried to strike a delicate balance working to protect public health programs without angering the president. He considered killing Robert F. Kennedy’s Jr.’s nomination for Health and Human Services Secretary given Mr. Kennedy’s criticisms of vaccines, though ultimately he gave his blessing.

After Mr. Kennedy fired every member of a vaccine advisory committee charged with setting children’ s immunization schedules, Dr. Cassidy warned that the new recommendations from Mr. Kennedy’s allies could not be trusted. 

Dr. Cassidy is not the only lawmaker facing Mr. Trump’s wrath. The president of the Indiana state senate, Rodric Bray, is also set to face a Trump-backed primary challenger when he runs for re-election. Mr. Bray was responsible for killing a gerrymandering effort in his state which would have seen two Democratic U.S. House seats eliminated. The conservative outside group Club for Growth is also preparing to attack Mr. Bray, the president says. 

“I was with David McIntosh of the Club for Growth, and we agreed that we will both work tirelessly together to take out Indiana Senate Majority Leader Rod Bray, a total RINO, who betrayed the Republican Party, the President of the United States, and everyone else who wants to, MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!” Mr. Trump wrote on Truth Social on Saturday night. “We’re after you Bray, like no one has ever come after you before!”

Mr. Bray is not up for re-election until 2028, though his party’s own presidential nominee may be coming after him out of spite. Vice President JD Vance, the likely GOP standardbearer, attacked Mr. Bray after the Virginia state senate passed a resolution which may allow them to eliminate as many as four Republican congressional seats ahead of this year’s midterms. 

“I’d like to thank [Mr. Bray] for not even trying to fight back against this extraordinary Democrat abuse of power,” Mr. Vance wrote on X on Saturday. “Now the votes of Indiana Republicans will matter far less than the votes of Virginia Democrats. We told you it would happen, and you did nothing.”

Mr. Trump is not only rolling out endorsements against his political enemies, but he also is trying to clear GOP primary fields for allies, as well. In Alabama, where there is an open U.S. Senate seat this year, Mr. Trump endorsed Congressman Barry Moore in the crowded Republican primary despite many of his allies backing other candidates. 

“Barry Moore is a good friend, fighter, and WINNER, and has my Complete and Total Endorsement,” Mr. Trump wrote of Mr. Moore, noting that the congressman was one of the first lawmakers to endorse the president’s 2024 campaign for the White House.