As I followed Massie around on the campaign trail in Kentucky this weekend, I sensed a lot of optimism. His supporters - a grab-bag of young libertarians, disaffected Republicans and traditional, principle-minded conservatives - truly believed that he was uniquely suited to be the man who could face the full force of Trump’s political movement and prevail.

‌

Instead, Massie is just the latest in a growing number of Trump critics who have been given their eviction notice by the president and Republican voters.

‌

On Saturday, it was Bill Cassidy, the Louisiana senator who voted to convict Trump during his 2021 impeachment trial. Last Tuesday, Trump took down five of the seven Indiana state legislators who opposed his congressional redistricting plan.

‌

Next up could be John Cornyn, the Texas senator who learned on Tuesday that Trump is backing his primary opponent, state Attorney General Ken Paxton.

‌

Trump and his team are taking a victory lap this week, as one after another opponent falls. But all this celebration may come at a cost.

‌

Earlier on Tuesday, Cassidy voted for the first time to support a resolution limiting Trump’s authority to conduct the Iran war. He also expressed his opposition to providing a billion dollars in security funding for the president’s proposed White House ballroom.

‌

The takeaway: Call it the YOLO caucus. Trump is creating a growing number of congressional Republicans with nothing left to lose who, like Cassidy, could make life difficult for the president in the coming months.

Adrienne Murray

Reporting from Nuuk

‌

Trump’s special envoy to Greenland, Jeff Landry, is visiting the island for the first time to make “friends”, and “to look, to listen and to learn”.

The trip comes amid efforts to resolve a diplomatic crisis sparked by the US president threatening to seize the semi-autonomous part of Denmark - a Nato member - by force. But the visit takes place without an official invite. And Greenland’s Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen has reiterated the territory is “not for sale”.

Landry, the governor of Louisiana, stepped off an official US plane in the capital Nuuk on Monday to attend a business summit and the opening of a new US consulate building. He suggested that before Trump, seemingly “no one cared” about Greenlanders. But the visit has touched a nerve.

‌

“It’s only four months ago that we felt very threatened by the US, so the timing is not appropriate,” says Greenlandic businesswoman and former politician, Maliina Abelsen. “I don’t like how you try to [bypass] the diplomacy and walk in the front door.”

Rasmus Sinding Søndergaard, a senior researcher in American foreign policy at the Danish Institute of International Studies, says Landry has largely adopted a conciliatory tone during his visit. “I think it’s a change in tactics,” he suggests. “The approach now is to try and befriend people, rather than coerce them.”