Donald Trump once called himself “the most loyal person in the world,” but the way he reckons it, loyalty apparently only applies to people who choose spinelessness over integrity.
The president spent this Saturday doing what he does best, which is lashing out at everyone who disagrees with him, burning bridges due to petty reasons, and all the while congratulating himself on all his make-believe victories.
The target of his latest political arson? Colorado Rep. Jeff Hurd, a first-term Republican who had the audacity to vote with five fellow House Republicans and a unanimous Democratic caucus to repeal Trump’s tariffs on Canada earlier this month. The sheer nerve on this guy!
Hurd’s justification might truly ruffle some feathers in among the ardent MAGA faithful. He cited Congress’s constitutional authority to regulate foreign trade. You know, the actual law. The founding document. That old thing.
Trump, apparently allergic to anyone who remembers ninth-grade civics, responded the only way he knows how. In a Truth Social screed posted Saturday, he slapped Hurd with the MAGA scarlet letter — “RINO” — and declared, with characteristic subtlety, that Hurd “is more interested in protecting Foreign Countries that have been ripping us off for decades than he is the United States of America.” This, mind you, is about Canada — the country’s neighbor and oldest ally.
The timing here is utterly ironic. Trump’s tantrum came just one day after the Supreme Court ruled 6-3 that his sweeping use of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act to justify the tariffs was unconstitutional — essentially agreeing with everything Hurd had been saying. Rather than reckon with the fact that a co-equal branch of government sided with the guy he just torched, Trump announced he was raising tariffs anyway.
The use of the term “RINO” — which is a purity test term — is very telling here. Hurd is being replaced in Trump’s good books by Hope Scheppelman — a Navy veteran, former Colorado GOP vice chairwoman, and critical care nurse practitioner who Trump is now crowning as a “Highly Respected Patriot.” What are Scheppelman’s qualifications for the job beyond being willing to wave the MAGA banner, you ask? Hard to say. But she’ll never let him down, Trump assures us, all caps, naturally, which appears to be the only job requirement that matters anymore.
Trump claimed this was only the second time he’s ever pulled an endorsement, citing Mo Brooks in 2022 as the previous recipient of his political excommunication. He conveniently glossed over yanking his support from Marjorie Taylor Greene just a few months ago — though to be fair, MTG’s case involved the Epstein files and Israel, and Trump seems to have a selective memory when the receipts are inconvenient.
Published: Feb 22, 2026 05:01 pm