Freedom Caucus Is in Complete Shambles—and at Risk of Falling Apart

The far-right House Freedom Caucus may be teetering on the brink of collapse.

Politico reports that the group is divided after a vote to expel Representative Warren Davidson, who was removed from the caucus by a 16–13 vote Monday night. The move was not taken well by the congressman’s supporters, as it took place when some of them were not present and may have violated its bylaws. Some members, such as Representative Troy Nehls, said they would leave the group as a result.

“I’m sure we’ll have some,” Representative Ralph Norman said about more members resigning from the group. “We’ve got a lot of issues to address.”

The move was pushed by allies of caucus chair Representative Bob Good after Davidson endorsed his opponent in the primaries, John McGuire. Good’s move, coming after he lost the Virginia Republican primary to McGuire, seems to have exposed a fault line within the group.

Usually, members of the Freedom Caucus are tight-lipped, but the Davidson decision has caused members to complain publicly and privately, according to Politico. According to caucus bylaws, members fall out of good standing only if they don’t pay their dues or attend meetings. Davidson hadn’t had any issues with either requirement, but Good’s allies were upset about the endorsement and retaliated against him. With Good on the verge of losing his House seat barring a recount in his primary race, the caucus could soon have a leadership crisis, with some members angling to push him out early.

The crises seem to be compounding for the caucus, which has been divided at least since some of its members took part in the effort to oust former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy last year. The group was also conflicted over whether to support removing Speaker Mike Johnson earlier this year.

Last year, the caucus kicked out Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, the first time they had ever removed a member. In that case, the reason given was that Greene’s feud with fellow caucus member Lauren Boebert had gone too far. Looking back, though, that event might have signaled bigger divisions on the horizon that may now seal its fate.

Florida Representative Byron Donalds has found a broad cast of critics in his race to become Donald Trump’s vice presidential pick—but one name in particular stands out from the crowd: his ex-wife Bisa Hall, who believes that his far-right bid is “super dangerous.”

In an interview with the Florida Trident, Hall described her former husband as an “opportunistic” person and as someone unafraid to create elaborate lies in order to achieve his end goals, such as pretending to be from Jamaica in order to score a date with her during their freshman year at Florida A&M University.

“He was trying to fill a void and get what he didn’t have,” Hall told the publication.

According to Hall, Donalds wasn’t politically active whatsoever during their eight-year on-again, off-again relationship—except when he registered to vote as a Democrat in Tallahassee.

Hall also contested Donalds’s account of his run-ins with the law. According to the congressman, he was arrested in 1998 for possession of marijuana, and then the following year for bank fraud. He served no jail time for either offense, and the second charge was expunged, meaning no details of the case are publicly available.

But according to Hall, Donalds was arrested the first time for marijuana possession with intent to distribute, and the second time for stealing while working at his campus bookstore.

Hall was reportedly reluctant to go on the record about her time with Donalds but became willing to make a statement after she saw her former partner grandstanding for Trump, a politician that she believes is, fundamentally, a “bad person.” Trump has, after all, bragged about sexually assaulting women and was found by a jury to have raped E. Jean Carroll; fueled and refused to stop the January 6 insurrection; and faced 91 criminal charges after his presidency ended for supplying hush-money payments to porn star Stormy Daniels, stealing droves of classified documents and national security secrets from the National Archives, and for his efforts related to attempting to overturn the 2020 presidential election results in his favor.

“To see [Trump and Donalds] in collusion together, it was like, ‘If [Donalds] were a good human, would this very bad person be pushing him as a poster child?’” Hall asked the Trident rhetorically. “They’re both very opportunistic. You trot him out there and it makes some people feel better about Trump. I think what he’s doing is super dangerous and I think morally he and I have no crossover at all.”

After a failed campaign buoyed by the Never Trump movement, Nikki Haley’s pathetic caving to Donald Trump stooped to a final, new low on Tuesday: Politico reported Haley will be releasing her 97 delegates and telling them to back Trump at the Republican National Convention next week. Adding salt to the wound, Haley was allegedly not invited to attend the RNC, according to Politico.

Haley spokesperson Chaney Denton told Politico that Haley won’t be attending the RNC next week because she wasn’t invited, “and she’s fine with that,” Denton said. “Trump deserves the convention he wants. She’s made it clear she’s voting for him and wishes him the best.”

“The nominating convention is a time for Republican unity,” Haley will announce in a statement, according to Politico. “Joe Biden is not competent to serve a second term, and Kamala Harris would be a disaster for America. We need a president who will hold our enemies to account, secure our border, cut our debt, and get our economy back on track. I encourage my delegates to support Donald Trump next week in Milwaukee.”

Haley built a campaign as a moderate conservative alternative to Trump’s extreme agenda, and was boosted by Republicans disinterested in a second Trump term. After grim primary results, Haley ultimately suspended her campaign in March, the last Trump contender to do so. However, her lifeless campaign continued eating into Trump’s lead through the remainder of the primaries. Haley’s zombie campaign picked up 6.4 percent of Republican voters in Kentucky’s primary in May and an eye-popping 21 percent in Indiana’s primary, and pulled 8.6 percent away from Trump in New Mexico’s June primary—three months after she suspended it. In May, Haley stated she would be voting for Trump in November but stopped short of explicitly directing voters to support the man she once described as “totally unhinged,” whose presidency would be “suicide for our country.”

Trump raised racist birther conspiracies about Haley while she was running for president, alleging that she couldn’t be president because her parents were not U.S. citizens when she was born, and mocking her legal first name, Nimrata. Trump also called her a “birdbrain” in September 2023, saying she “doesn’t have the TALENT or TEMPERAMENT to do the job.” Haley interpreted Trump’s remarks as a compliment, a sign that her campaign was gaining momentum, responding, “Love this. It means we are in 2nd and moving up fast.” After she suspended her campaign, Trump suggested Haley may have a place on his team, calling her a “capable person” and noting “we have a lot of the same ideas, the same thoughts.”

Ahead of a private House Democratic Caucus meeting Tuesday, a smaller group of Democratic lawmakers from swing districts met to discuss President Joe Biden’s candidacy—and were apparently more than a little depressed.

“There were actual tears from people, and not for Biden,” one anonymous lawmaker told Axios, who explained that the group of lawmakers was “pretty much unanimous” that Biden has “got to step down.”

Biden has repeatedly insisted that he will not drop out of the presidential race, despite criticism from his party. While only six lawmakers have outright asked him to drop out, it seems the dissatisfaction has spread throughout the party.

Another lawmaker simply called the meeting “intense,” according to Axios.

Democrats at the morning’s main meeting seemed far less in agreement about what the president ought to do, but the vibe was reportedly also disconsolate and frustrating. One lawmaker said it “felt like a funeral,” while another said that notion was “an insult to funerals.”

Speaker Mike Johnson doesn’t like where the contempt resolution against Attorney General Merrick Garland is going, and is trying to get the MAGA representative behind the effort, Anna Paulina Luna, to back down.

Johnson reportedly told Luna in the Republican conference Tuesday to back off of introducing a resolution this week, but she’s refusing.

Earlier, Luna told the conference that she would introduce the contempt resolution on the House floor Wednesday, with an amendment that it wouldn’t be to arrest Garland but to fire him. Johnson said he is also concerned about the attorney general, but the House’s lawsuit to enforce the congressional subpoena against Garland is enough, sources told Politico’s Olivia Beavers.

Last month, the House voted along party lines, with only one Republican against, to hold Garland in contempt of Congress for refusing to hand over audio of a privileged interview between President Biden and special counsel Robert Hur about the classified documents found in his former office. Despite an obvious double standard, Johnson claimed last month that Garland’s refusal to answer a congressional subpoena is not comparable to the House Republicans who ignored subpoenas from the House January 6 committee, saying, “There couldn’t be a more clear contrast.”

It’s clear that Republican attempts to target Garland are a politicized attempt to take revenge against the Justice Department for pursuing criminal cases against Donald Trump. The convicted felon and his GOP allies, like the now-imprisoned Steve Bannon, have made no secret of their desire to enact retribution against Trump’s enemies. Trump was reportedly upset at a lack of action on his behalf from Republicans after his conviction.

With Trump now effectively above the law after the Supreme Court’s immunity ruling, he will be able to target whoever he wants if he wins in November. His team is already creating an enemies list of federal employees, and Trump himself has already suggested throwing his political opponents in jail. He has an army of right-wing lawyers waiting in the wings as soon as he enters the Oval Office.