Republican politics in the United States have rarely been a picture of unity, but in the autumn of 2025, the fractures are no longer just hairline—they’re visible, vocal, and, at times, downright contentious. As President Donald Trump basks in what his allies tout as foreign policy triumphs in the Middle East, a new chapter of internal discord is emerging in the GOP. According to Axios, small but significant "pockets of resistance" are surfacing, with some prominent Republicans breaking ranks on issues ranging from Israel and Gaza to federal interventions and media freedom.
One of the most surprising figures at the heart of this resistance is Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia. Long known as a firebrand and a staunch supporter of Trump’s America First agenda, Greene has recently frustrated Trump’s inner circle by opposing the party line on several key issues. Axios’ Alex Isenstadt, reporting on October 14, 2025, notes that Greene has bucked her party on topics as varied as Israel/Gaza policy and subsidies tied to the Affordable Care Act—better known as Obamacare.
But Greene isn’t alone. The list of dissenters includes Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt, Utah Governor Spencer Cox, entrepreneur and former presidential hopeful Vivek Ramaswamy, Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, and Senator Susan Collins of Maine. While none of these figures could be mistaken for “Never Trumpers,” their willingness to voice disagreement represents a notable shift in a party that, for years, has been in near-lockstep with Trump’s leadership.
Take Governor Stitt, for example. He publicly criticized Trump’s decision to deploy federalized National Guard troops in U.S. cities, calling it a violation of states’ rights—a foundational conservative principle. Utah’s Governor Cox, meanwhile, pushed back against Trump’s cancellation of a major solar power project, arguing that the move undermined both economic and environmental interests in his state. Ramaswamy and Cruz, for their part, objected to Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr’s attempt to pressure ABC/Disney not to air Jimmy Kimmel’s late-night show, framing the move as an affront to free speech.
These flashes of independence have not gone unnoticed by Trump loyalists. Perhaps the most vocal among them is Laura Loomer, a far-right influencer and self-described “proud Islamophobe.” Loomer has been particularly incensed by Greene’s recent stances, despite their shared MAGA roots. In a fiery post on X (formerly Twitter) dated October 10, 2025, Loomer fumed, “After Trump, the GOP is going to struggle to lead because as we have seen, President Trump is the glue that keeps the party together. So what’s happening? Well, ingrate Republicans who attached themselves to Trump think they don’t need him anymore or they are retaliating because he didn’t endorse them. These people will work to undermine Trump in the last 3.5 years he's in office and they will join forces with the radical left to smear MAGA while they give a pass to the Red-Green alliance so that our country becomes more radical and more violent.”
Loomer’s criticism didn’t stop there. She accused some conservatives of using Israel as a wedge issue and warned that certain factions would “openly embrace Islam as a wedge issue to break up the evangelical and Christian voting blocks that have strongly supported the GOP.” According to Loomer, this rhetorical shift is evidence of a broader coalition between “conservatives,” Islamists, and leftists—one that she claims is “more isolationist and openly hostile to anyone who speaks out about Islamic terror.”
Yet Loomer’s ire has not been reserved solely for Republican dissenters on domestic or foreign policy. In March 2025, she turned her attention to another controversy roiling conservative circles: the fate of Sam Bankman-Fried, the disgraced founder of the collapsed FTX cryptocurrency exchange. In a widely shared post on X, Loomer alleged that a “highly mobilized and well funded” effort was underway within “Trump world” to secure a presidential pardon for Bankman-Fried, who was convicted in 2024 of multiple counts of fraud and conspiracy and sentenced to 25 years in federal prison, along with three years of supervised release and $11 billion in forfeiture.
“There is a highly mobilized and well funded effort on the right to lobby Trump world to pardon crypto scammer @SBF_FTX Sam Bankman-Fried,” Loomer wrote. “His family members are actively working with a firm to get the Trump admin to have Trump pardon SBF.” She went on to describe the initiative as “deeply concerning,” pointing out that Bankman-Fried was the second-largest donor to Democrats before his downfall—a fact she argued made any support for clemency among conservatives a betrayal of core values.
Loomer doubled down on her claims in subsequent posts, warning that media narratives sympathetic to Bankman-Fried—especially after reports that he was placed in solitary confinement following an interview with Tucker Carlson—were part of an organized “influence campaign.” She cautioned, “You’re going to start seeing a lot more in the news about Sam Bankman-Fried. There is a massive and well-funded lobby effort to get this criminal pardoned. He’s going to pretend like he was a victim of Joe Biden and the Democrats after he funded all of the Left’s campaigns. Don’t fall for it.”
Despite the fervor with which Loomer has sounded the alarm, there is no public record or official statement confirming any such organized effort to secure Bankman-Fried’s release. Both the Trump campaign and Bankman-Fried’s legal representatives have remained silent on the matter. Nevertheless, Loomer’s allegations have sparked intense debate among conservatives, with some echoing her warnings and others questioning her sources and motivations.
The controversy over Bankman-Fried’s potential pardon comes at a time when cryptocurrency itself remains a lightning rod in American politics. His conviction and the subsequent fallout have underscored the risks and regulatory gaps associated with digital assets, while also highlighting the intersection of tech, finance, and partisan influence. As federal prosecutors revealed, many of Bankman-Fried’s political contributions were made using misappropriated customer funds—a detail that has only fueled the outrage among those who see him as emblematic of corruption in both parties.
Meanwhile, the internal divisions within the GOP show no signs of abating. As Axios reported, the willingness of figures like Stitt, Cox, Ramaswamy, and Cruz to break with Trump, even occasionally, signals growing concerns within the party as the 2026 midterms approach. Whether these “pockets of resistance” will coalesce into a broader movement—or be quashed by Trump loyalists—remains to be seen.
For now, one thing is clear: the Republican Party is navigating a period of soul-searching and recalibration. Between the policy disagreements, the influence of social media firebrands like Loomer, and the ongoing saga of Sam Bankman-Fried, the GOP’s path forward is anything but settled. As debates rage on both domestic and digital fronts, the party’s future will likely hinge on how it manages dissent, loyalty, and the ever-shifting sands of American political identity.