Rebel Republican reveals deal GOP leaders offered him to give up anti-Trump vote

A retiring Republican lawmaker in a key competitive House district says that Republican leaders went so far as to offer him exceptions from President Donald Trump's tariffs in his own district, to stop him from voting against the rules to shield the tariffs from a congressional veto.

According to Politico, Rep. Don Bacon (R-NE), a frequent rebel against major party-line issues whose Omaha-based district frequently votes for Democrats in presidential elections, said he had no intention of changing his mind on the issue. “There’s so many companies struggling against tariffs, and that’s what the president needs to hear,” he told the paper. “Our farmers are struggling.”

"White House officials and House GOP leaders unleashed an all-out pressure campaign to try to force the rebels to fall in line, calling around to other House Republicans and staffers asking 'what buttons to push' with the holdouts, according to three people granted anonymity to describe the covert effort," said the report. "Bacon said that after he voted against the procedural measure and left the floor Tuesday night, GOP leaders tried to persuade him to come back and negotiate, offering tariff carve-outs and other incentives for businesses in his district."

“They were shocked,” Bacon told Politico. “They said, ‘Why don’t you stick around?’ I said, ‘I’m not planning on negotiating.’”

The rejection of the rule, which saw Bacon join fellow rebel Reps. Thomas Massie (R-KY) and Kevin Kiley (R-CA) to cross the aisle, allowed for the House to pass a resolution against Trump's tariffs on Canada on Wednesday. Such a measure would still have to pass the Senate, which is unlikely, but Trump had been hoping for the measure not to come to a vote at all.

Before the vote, the president had tried to threaten the GOP out of defying him, posting to Truth Social, "Any Republican, in the House or the Senate, that votes against TARIFFS will seriously suffer the consequences come Election time, and that includes Primaries!"