It would take only THREE House Republicans to stop Trump. Will any have the courage?

Dozens of GOP Members of Congress are retiring. If a few decided to switch sides — even just temporarily — they could save democracy from a madman.

Here’s something that might surprise you. We’re just three people away from stopping Trump’s authoritarian takeover and curbing his madman antics. Three. That’s the number of House Republicans who, if they chose to act, could flip control of the chamber today. And it may not be as unlikely as it sounds.

As a former House staffer, I’ll tell you that the math is almost insultingly simple.

Republicans currently hold 218 seats to Democrats’ 214. A majority normally requires 218 votes, but with several seats vacant, only 217 are needed. That means the margins in the House are the narrowest they’ve been in almost 100 years. The body hasn’t been this evenly divided since the 1930s, when the body was briefly split 218-216.

Hypothetically, if three Republicans crossed the aisle and voted with Democrats, they could change control of the entire U.S. House overnight. It would also change the course of history.

The process is as simple as the math. Three Republicans could announce they’re caucusing with Democrats. They’d vote to reorganize the chamber, support a new Speaker, and hand Democrats control of the committee structure. (Perhaps, as part of a deal, they’d insist upon getting key chairmanships or choosing a particular unifying leader to run the House.) Then the primary legislative and investigative chamber of the United States Congress — currently clenched in MAGA hands — would belong to the opposition. Those brave Republicans wouldn’t even need to switch parties.

I’ll be the first to admit that this sounds like the kind of political fantasy that belongs in early 2000s television dramas. The West Wing, perhaps. I’ve lived through so much “crossing the aisle” false hope that it could fill a novel.

But here’s what makes this more than just a fantasy: dozens of House Republicans have already decided they’re done. They’re retiring. Most are sick of working in politics. And I can personally attest that many of them despise Donald Trump — and are spooked by his recent rants (e.g. “a whole civilization will die tonight”). They see that he’s falling apart.

In all, thirty-nine GOP members have announced they won’t seek reelection. That number is closing in on the all-time record, and still growing. That exceeds the wave of Republican retirements in 2018, the last time Democrats retook the House. Importantly, these members have no primary race to survive, no Trump endorsement to seek, and no MAGA base to placate back home. While some are running for higher office (governor, senator, etc), the majority are leaving public life altogether.

So what if just a handful of them decided to do something profound? To use their dwindling months in office to make decisions as a matter of personal conscience, not politics? That possibility — however remote it might seem — is partly why Speaker Mike Johnson is so nervous about his vote margin. All it would take is a single secret meeting of three of his Members to strip him of control.

On the surface, it’s very unlikely.

I’ve watched with gut-punching disappointment how Member of Congress (even those who are retiring) get cold feet when it comes to breaking with the tribe. They spent careers building relationships, raising money, and defining themselves within the Republican Party. So to caucus with Democrats would be seen by some of their families, their former colleagues, their donors, and their constituents as the ultimate betrayal. They fear it would wreck their post-congressional job prospects (and, sadly, that fear is greater than their fear of the republic being smashed to bits by a lunatic).

But it’s happened before. In 2001, when the U.S. Senate was split 50-50 between parties, Republican Senator Jim Jeffords did the unthinkable. He left the GOP and handed Democrats control of the Senate, something that until then had never happened in the history of the chamber. While his former Republican colleagues didn’t forgive him, he played a decisive role in shaping policies in the post-9/11 era.

This would be harder to do today than it was back then. It wouldn’t be enough for three GOP House Members to privately make a bold decision. They’d have to move simultaneously, in secret, holding firm under withering pressure. Trump doesn’t forget, of course. Indeed, the moment such a move became public, the weight of the entire executive branch, the Republican National Committee, the MAGA media apparatus, and the personal fury of a vindictive president would descend on those three individuals and everyone connected to them.

And Democrats would have to cooperate, too. They’d have to rally around a Speaker candidate palatable enough that three Republicans could vote for them without feeling they’d simply handed the gavel to “the squad.” That’s not impossible. But it’s another coordination problem layered on top of an already audacious gambit.

So why write about this at all? Because the “improbable” is not the same as the “impossible.” And we’re in a dire moment worthy of such dramatic action. The president is treating war and the use of force like a video game, except that his controller launches actual nuclear weapons. What’s more, at least a few of the retiring Republicans have flirted with defiance against the current commander-in-chief, including in very public disagreements with Donald Trump.

Don Bacon of Nebraska is perhaps the most compelling name on the list. He represents a genuine swing district, has repeatedly broken with Trump and MAGA on key votes, and has made clear he believes the direction of the Republican Party is wrong and even dangerous. If anyone has both the ideological permission and the personal freedom to do something like this, it’s Bacon.

Then there’s Dan Newhouse of Washington, who actually voted to impeach Donald Trump after January 6th (one of only ten House Republicans to do so) and has paid for it in Republican politics ever since. He already knows what it costs to defy Trump when it matters. I supported him in a grueling re-election campaign that most MAGA Republicans hoped would destroy him. It didn’t. He made it back to Congress and proved that courage matters.

Another possibility could be Michael McCaul of Texas. I spent years working for him when he was Chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee. McCaul is, at his core, a national security institutionalist. He’s watched the demolition of the alliance structure he spent a career fortifying — such as the abandonment of Ukraine, the deference to our Russian adversary Vladimir Putin, and the hollowing out of NATO — with visible discomfort. While he’s stayed behind the party line, I know he’s distressed to see the America of Ronald Reagan sink beneath the waves.

These aren’t radicals or secret progressives. The three examples I’ve given are all true conservatives who disagree with Democrats on most things. But that’s precisely the point. A move like this would not be ideological. It would be constitutional. In other words, it would be an act of institutional defense by people who understand, at some level, that our system is being lost to the limb-ripping populism of the moment — and who happen to find themselves with nothing to lose.

Think about what a flipped House might do to safeguard our democracy.

It could invoke the War Powers Act and force votes on any unauthorized military action, including limiting the spiraling war with Iran and the increasingly murky operations in the Caribbean, where the administration is summarily executing people. It could force the Trump administration to stop taxing Americans to death through tariffs and spending the United States into oblivion. It could subpoena Trump officials about threats to NATO and wayward plans to take over Greenland. It could freeze DHS operations until the Department makes guarantees to abide by the Constitution and not spy on the American people.

Moreover, a flipped House could open urgent investigations into corruption, from the suspicious trading patterns timed to presidential announcements to the official favors given to major donors and foreign leaders who’ve showered the Trump family with money. The House could launch inquiries into the abuses of power at the Justice Department, the IRS, and federal regulatory agencies that have been used so brazenly as instruments of personal and political revenge against private citizens who’ve done nothing more than criticize this administration or news organizations that’ve done their jobs. They could haul up Trump officials to testify until we get the full truth behind the Epstein files or what DOGE actually did with its access to the personal financial data of millions of Americans.

They could also block voter suppression legislation. Perhaps most crucially, they could remain an institutional check on power if Donald Trump attempts to hijack the midterm elections, seize ballots, or once again falsely declare “fraud.” What’s more, a flipped House could be prepared to initiate impeachment proceedings against a president who’s openly embraced war crimes, systematized self-dealing, weaponized the government, and blown through democracy’s guardrails.

I know what you’re thinking. None of this would be easy. Of course it wouldn’t. A Democratic House majority built on three Republican defections would be very fragile, contested, and loud as hell. Republicans would challenge its legitimacy in every forum available to them. The president would probably declare it some sort of coup attempt, which would instantly turn the media and political environment into a vulgar and violent circus. The madness isn’t lost on me. But is it crazier than what we’re living through?

My case to those three souls, whoever they might be, is that they would be offered something few politicians in American history are given. They’d have the chance to be the people who mattered most, when it mattered most — and on the right side of a question that’ll define how this era is remembered. I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say they could be the three who save democracy. We’re living under the rule of a wannabe despot who’s more unhinged by the day. Future generations may well owe their lives to the bravery of a few congresspeople who decide to say “no more.”

Any GOP representative retiring in this environment must know they’re headed down one of two paths. They can do something audacious and never be forgotten by history. Or they can exit stage right in quiet complicity — and never be forgiven by it.

Just three people. That’s all I’m saying. They’re already going down to the House Floor each day taking votes, going through the legislative motions they no longer care about. But I can see a more monumental way for them to spend their final months in office. The question is whether any of them are brave enough to see it, too.

Your friend, in defiance,

Miles Taylor

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