For much of the past decade, Donald Trump could get whatever he wanted or needed from House Republicans through praise, flattery, threats, or all of the above in some combination.
Trump had the House Republican conference wrapped around his finger. House Republicans were terrified of Trump because he could end their careers with a harsh word and a primary against them.
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With members of the House perpetually running for reelection, Trump had a group of legislators who needed him and could not afford to cross him.
The political reality of the nearly 80-year-old term-limited Donald Trump is much different. In 2025, Trump doesn’t wield the same influence and power that he did in 2017.
Donald Trump is term-limited. Everyone knows it. One of Trump’s main weapons to keep Republicans in line has been the primary threat, but in a few months, the 2026 primary season will be gone, and so will much of the president’s influence over his party’s House majority.
When the history of this current era is written, the Epstein files may well be a key moment.
Trump’s supporters have been demanding the release of the full Epstein files for years, as they are convinced that the files would be full of sex criminal Democrats.
In 2024, Trump promised his supporters that he would release the files if he won, but after Trump won, he changed his tune and has done everything in his power to block the release of the files.
The same right-wing conspiratorial mindset that Trump fanned the flames of his rise to power has turned against him on the Epstein files.
When a bipartisan discharge petition was started to force a vote on legislation demanding the release of the files, the co-sponsor was Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky. Massie was joined by Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, Nancy Mace of South Carolina, and Lauren Boebert of Colorado.
After Democrats won a special election in Arizona, they finally had enough votes when the entire caucus joined with the 4 Republicans to force a vote on the Epstein files.
The House finally came back into session on Wednesday, and Trump went into overdrive trying to get one House Republican to withdraw their name from the petition, because once the petition is brought to the House floor, the names are locked in and can’t be withdrawn.
Trump tried all his usual pressure tactics, but this time, they backfired.
Read more about how Trump’s pressure campaign hurt him below.