President Donald Trump is as soon as once more reminding Washington that, for him, pardons are much less an act of mercy than an instrument of loyalty—and he’s livid that one among his newest beneficiaries didn’t get the message.
On Sunday, Trump lashed out at Texas Rep. Henry Cuellar for deciding to run for reelection as a Democrat, a transfer that appeared to blindside the president despite the fact that Cuellar had by no means hinted at switching events.
“Such a lack of LOYALTY,” Trump fumed on Reality Social, clearly shocked that his shock pardon of Cuellar—who was indicted on federal corruption fees—didn’t immediately convert the conservative South Texas Democrat right into a Republican.
“Naughty to nice list” by Mike Luckovich
The shock is difficult to sq. with actuality. Cuellar had already acknowledged publicly that he hadn’t minimize a cope with Trump or the White Home to safe the pardon. Why Trump thought the congressman would all of a sudden change events stays a thriller.
Cuellar, one of many few Democrats who brazenly blasted President Joe Biden for not taking a more durable line on immigration, had been one thing of a political curiosity. Trump’s pardon briefly scrambled these dynamics. However by Sunday, the president had clearly soured on what he now noticed as a wasted political funding.
Trump himself admitted as a lot. Requested final week whether or not sparing Cuellar may make the district more durable for Republicans to win in 2026, he shrugged: it “didn’t matter.”
“He was treated very badly because he said that people should not be allowed to pour into our country,” Trump insisted. “He got indicted for speaking the truth.”
None of that was correct. And the Nationwide Republican Congressional Committee couldn’t have been thrilled to look at Trump casually torpedo a seat they’ve eyed for years—a district he carried by seven factors in 2024.
Republicans had cause to hope. The GOP-run Legislature, at Trump’s urging, launched a mid-decade redistricting scramble meant to shore up weak Republican seats heading into 2026. Cuellar’s twenty eighth District now has a bigger Republican base, but Cuellar believed—and nonetheless believes—he can win it once more.
The document helps him. The GOP has taken repeated runs at Cuellar over the past decade, solely to look at him survive—even in 2024, when he received reelection beneath indictment.
The costs have been severe. In March 2024, the Justice Division charged the congressman and his spouse, Imelda, accusing them of accepting funds from an Azerbaijani oil firm and a Mexican financial institution. A decide later dismissed two of the fees, and the trial was set for 2026. Then Trump abruptly ended the case with a pardon.
Imelda Cuellar was pardoned, too. Each had been accused of taking $600,000 in bribes.
Trump appeared to consider that this extraordinary intervention would immediate a celebration conversion—some extent he spelled out in a prolonged weekend rant.
“Only a short time after signing the Pardon, Congressman Henry Cuellar announced that he will be ‘running’ for Congress again … as a Democrat, continuing to work with the same Radical Left Scum that just weeks before wanted him and his wife to spend the rest of their lives in Prison,” Trump complained.
“Next time,” he added, “no more Mr. Nice guy!”
Briefly, Trump all however acknowledged that he seen the pardon as a political transaction. And when the transaction failed, he reacted as if he’d been swindled.
“I’m probably one of the most, if not the most, bipartisan Democrats,” he stated. “And as I told some of my Republican friends on the House floor, I vote better than some of the Republicans in the Republican caucus.”
Nonetheless, he didn’t exit of his approach to antagonize Trump. Cuellar famous that he prayed for Trump and his household, including: “I’m an American, I’m a Texan, and I’m a Democrat, in that order. And I think anybody that puts party before their country is doing a disservice to their country.”
x
BARTIROMO: Have you ever thought-about switching events?
CUELLAR: Look, I am a Democrat
BARTIROMO: Okay, however Trump is out with a brand new Reality Social saying saying, “next time, no more Mr Nice Guy”
CUELLAR: I used to be at church this morning praying for the president
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— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) December 7, 2025 at 11:10 AM
Trump insisted he was correcting an injustice. He stated he acted after receiving a letter from the Cuellars’ daughters.
“I never spoke to the Congressman, his wife, or his daughters, but felt very good about fighting for a family,” he wrote. “God was very happy with me that day!”
What the episode in the end reveals is one thing way more enduring than a single feud. It reveals—with uncommon readability—how Trump understands the pardon energy: as a political forex, a chip to be traded for loyalty or strategic acquire. It additionally reveals the bounds of that energy. A pardon can’t drive gratitude or obedience. And as soon as issued, it can’t be revoked when the beneficiary declines to play alongside.
Trump anticipated a Republican seat in change for his presidential largesse. As a substitute, he obtained a Democrat who thanked him politely after which went proper again to being who he has at all times been.
And Trump, as ever, took it personally.
