In a move that reeks of Beltway cowardice and globalist pandering, four Republican senators sided with Democrats and independents on Wednesday night to pass a 51–48 resolution aimed at gutting President Donald Trump’s 25% tariffs on Canadian imports — tariffs imposed to combat the flow of fentanyl and defend American sovereignty.
Let’s be clear: This wasn’t just a vote on trade. This was a vote on border security, national resolve, and whether the Senate has the backbone to stand up to countries enabling the deadly drug epidemic killing tens of thousands of Americans every year. And unfortunately, some Republicans couldn’t even be bothered to fake it.
Sens. Mitch McConnell (KY), Lisa Murkowski (AK), Susan Collins (ME), and Rand Paul (KY) were the defectors who joined hands with the left-wing bloc to ram through Virginia Democrat Tim Kaine’s resolution, which would nullify the national emergency Trump used to justify the tariffs. Let that sink in: These Republicans chose to side with Tim Kaine, Amy Klobuchar, and Mark Warner over the president of their own party.
Sen. Roger Marshall (R-KS) didn’t vote at all — silence that speaks volumes.
Collins gave the predictable excuse about her state’s “integrated economy” with Canada. McConnell whined about potential price increases for Kentucky businesses. Murkowski questioned why we’re “fighting Canada” while cozying up to Russia — as if she’s suddenly forgotten which nation is smuggling lethal fentanyl into our country. Rand Paul took a libertarian detour to rail against executive authority.
And in return, they handed Democrats a symbolic win they’ll spin all the way to November.
President Trump, never one to mince words, blasted the Republican turncoats on Truth Social, calling the resolution a “ploy of the Dems to expose weak Republicans” and making it crystal clear: The House will never pass it, and he will never sign it.
He’s right. Speaker Mike Johnson has already declared Kaine’s bill dead on arrival in the House, and Majority Whip John Barrasso didn’t mince words either, calling the resolution a “meaningless messaging bill” meant to “undermine President Trump’s successful work to secure the Northern Border.”
Meanwhile, Canada — our “friendly” neighbor — responded to the tariffs with retaliatory penalties of their own. So much for diplomacy. The Trudeau government is more interested in virtue-signaling and trade leverage than actually cracking down on the fentanyl pipelines that pour poison into American communities.
Let’s not lose sight of what this is really about. The Trump administration has made it clear: if foreign governments won’t stop the flow of deadly drugs, then economic pressure is on the table. Tariffs are a tool — not to punish allies, but to wake them up. And they work. Just ask China, Mexico, and now Canada.
But once again, establishment Republicans would rather protect multinational corporate interests than protect American lives. They’d rather please the editorial boards of The New York Times and The Washington Post than face down drug traffickers, trade cheats, and open-border zealots.
And they wonder why conservative voters don’t trust them.
