On Thursday, during a Senate push on a war-powers resolution tied to U.S. military involvement in Venezuela, President Donald Trump phoned Maine Sen. Susan Collins and unleashed a stream of profanity and fury directly into her earpiece, according to sources who spoke with The Hill and were later detailed in reporting by AOL.com.
One GOP senator familiar with the scene described Trump as “very mad, very hot,” in the exact words used by a source — and said Trump “basically read her the riot act.” He didn’t just express displeasure; he railed at Collins in what multiple insiders characterized as a profanity-laced tirade about her decision to support advancing a war powers resolution that would require congressional authorization for future military actions.
That vote, a 52-47 split in the Senate that saw Collins join four other Republicans and all Democrats in moving the measure forward, was a clear slap at Trump’s unilateral approach. The resolution doesn’t immediately block current operations, but it forces Trump’s hand on future military decisions and signals growing congressional unease with his foreign policy, as reported by The Guardian.
Trump didn’t leave his fury confined to a private call. He took to Truth Social afterward to blast Collins and her GOP colleagues in public, declaring bluntly that those who voted for the resolution “should never be elected to office again.” He lumped Collins in with Sens. Lisa Murkowski, Rand Paul, Josh Hawley and Todd Young, warning that Republicans should be “ashamed” of their actions.
Collins is no Trump loyalist. She’s long been tagged as a centrist Republican who occasionally breaks with the party line, and she’s already facing stiff reelection pressure in Maine next year. But reports suggest this exchange was singular in its intensity. Trump’s ire was not procedural legislative angst; it was personal.
A spokesperson for Collins confirmed she took the call, but declined to offer additional comment on precisely what was said.
