AdvertisementSKIP ADVERTISEMENTYou have a preview view of this article while we are checking your access. When we have confirmed access, the full article content will load.The defeat showed the president’s dominance in his party, even as a broader range of views about Mr. Trump could be a major Republican liability in the midterms.Listen · 8:24 min President Trump at the White House on Friday.Credit...Haiyun Jiang/The New York TimesMay 17, 2026Updated 9:15 a.m. ETPresident Trump’s push to oust Republican lawmakers who have crossed him claimed its most prominent name yet in Louisiana this weekend, reinforcing Mr. Trump’s dominance in the party, even as the G.O.P. braces for a potential backlash to his presidency in the midterm elections.For the second time this month, Republican primary voters sent a message about the price of defying the president, this time by retiring Senator Bill Cassidy, who voted to convict Mr. Trump in his impeachment trial after the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. The outcome in Louisiana on Saturday followed losses by a group of Indiana state lawmakers whom the president targeted for political payback. And it arrived just ahead of another big test on Mr. Trump’s retribution tour: a House primary in Kentucky on Tuesday.In each case, Mr. Trump trained his ire at Republicans for different reasons. He endorsed against the Indiana lawmakers after they opposed a redistricting plan, turned on Mr. Cassidy over the 2020 election and subsequent impeachment vote, and is now trying to take down Representative Thomas Massie of Kentucky, a Republican who has criticized him over the Epstein files and the war with Iran.But the moves combine to form a picture of a second-term president who brooks little dissent in his party — and whose sagging standing with the general public is doing little to deter him from asserting his influence on a party in his thrall.“You get on the wrong side of Donald Trump in one of these primaries, and it’s highly likely to be a bad day for you,” said Scott Jennings, a Republican strategist and CNN analyst. “Donald Trump’s word and judgment in a Republican primary is the thing that matters the most. In many cases, it is the alpha and the omega.”ImageSenator Bill Cassidy after losing his primary on Saturday.Credit...Emily Kask for The New York TimesThank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe.AdvertisementSKIP ADVERTISEMENT