Is Trump’s remarkable run of fealty coming to an end?

“I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody,” Donald Trump claimed in 2016, “and I wouldn’t lose any voters.” Coming two weeks before the Iowa caucus, it was an unusual message from a politician, but the last nine years have served to underscore the point.

His “Make America great again” base, and the bulk of the Republican party, stood with him through (deep breath): two impeachments, children in cages, “very fine people on both sides”, 34 felony convictions, an insurrection, “shithole countries”, attempting to overturn an election, hush money payments to an adult film actor, “they’re rapists”, a brutal immigration crackdown, Four Seasons Total Landscaping, “grab ‘em by the pussy”, billions of dollars made by the Trump family, cosying up to dictators, “don’t look!”, mass pardons for his allies and friends, an unfinished wall, “liberation day”, presenting himself as a king, forcing Donald Trump Jr into the public consciousness, and more.

Trump has enjoyed a remarkable run of fealty, both from his rank and file supporters and from an obsequious GOP. But nothing lasts forever. To paraphrase Batman, you either die a hero, or you live long enough to see yourself lose party support over your handling of documents related to your former friend, a convicted paedophile.

Yes, it is the Jeffrey Epstein saga that has led to the biggest fissure yet between Trump and his base. Trump wanted House Republicans to vote against releasing the Epstein files this week, but as many as 100 of them were prepared to defy the president, the biggest act of disobedience Trump has faced in his second term . That forced the president into an embarrassing U-turn: after telling Republicans to vote no on releasing the files, Trump abruptly ordered them all to vote yes.

There have been signs elsewhere that Trump’s iron grip over his party might be failing. Trump was desperate for Republicans in Indiana to redraw their voting map so the GOP could pick up another House seat next year, but enough Republican lawmakers resisted that the old maps remain in place.

Trump has responded to the insubordination in the ways he knows best: pettiness and cruelty.

He wanted Republicans in the Senate to abolish the filibuster. That didn’t happen either, while there was uproar from rightwing figures last week over a proposal to introduce 50-year mortgages.

Trump has responded to the insubordination in the ways he knows best: pettiness and cruelty.

Thomas Massie, a Republican congressman from Kentucky who has defied Trump on several issues, was one of the first to feel the president’s ire. Trump, 79, responded to news that Massie had recently married by claiming that “[Massie’s] wife will soon find out that she’s stuck with a LOSER!”.

Rod Bray, a Republican in the Indiana state senate, was dismissed as “weak and pathetic” in a Truth Social post, while Trump also bared his claws at Marjorie Taylor Greene, the Republican congresswoman who broke with him over Epstein. Greene was subjected to a lengthy and confusing analogy about how, actually, her name should be Marjorie Taylor Brown, because “Green turns to Brown where there is ROT involved!”

But as Trump has flailed around looking for someone to shout at, it’s the media, his familiar old foe, which has drawn the sharpest attacks .

Donald Trump hosts Mohammed bin Salman, the crown prince and prime minister of Saudi Arabia, at the White House in Washington DC on 18 November 2025. Photograph: Win McNamee/Getty Images

Trump shrugged off the murder of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi during Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s visit to the White House, telling a journalist who asked about it: “You don’t have to embarrass our guest.”

“Quiet piggy,” he told a female reporter on Friday, after she asked him why, if there was nothing in the Epstein files, Trump didn’t want them released. On Tuesday, after an ABC reporter asked why he won’t release the files immediately, Trump called her a “terrible person and a terrible reporter”.

The president added: “People are wise to your hoax and ABC is – uh, your company, your crappy company, is one of the perpetrators. And I’ll tell you something, I’ll tell you something, I think the license should be taken away from ABC. Because your news is so fake, and it’s so wrong, and we have a great commissioner, chairman who should look at that.”

In the midst of the childlike insults, this one had some real malice. Trump was never likely to shoot someone in middle of Fifth Avenue, but he has waged a war on the media: pressing CBS News and Disney into coughing up $16m through lawsuits, threatening legal action against CNN, and lobbying for late-night hosts to be kicked off air.

At a time when Republicans appear less likely than ever before to submit to Trump’s demands, it’s corporate media bosses who are seeming subservient. Plenty of reporters have, so far, stood up to the president. But with Trump increasingly angry and vengeful, will an independent press be able to stand firm? We’ll see.