President Donald Trump is once again reminding Washington that, for him, pardons are less an act of mercy than an instrument of loyalty—and he’s furious that one of his latest 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 move that seemed to blindside the president even though Cuellar had never hinted at switching parties.
“Such a lack of LOYALTY,” Trump fumed on Truth Social, clearly stunned that his surprise pardon of Cuellar—who was indicted on federal corruption charges—didn’t instantly convert the conservative South Texas Democrat into a Republican.
The shock is hard to square with reality. Cuellar had already stated publicly that he hadn’t cut a deal with Trump or the White House to secure the pardon. Why Trump thought the congressman would suddenly switch parties remains a mystery.
Cuellar, one of the few Democrats who openly blasted President Joe Biden for not taking a harder line on immigration, had been something of a political curiosity. Trump’s pardon briefly scrambled those dynamics. But by Sunday, the president had clearly soured on what he now saw as a wasted political investment.
Trump himself admitted as much. Asked last week whether sparing Cuellar might make the district harder 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 accurate. And the National Republican Congressional Committee couldn’t have been thrilled to watch Trump casually torpedo a seat they’ve eyed for years—a district he carried by seven points in 2024.
Republicans had reason to hope. The GOP-run Legislature, at Trump’s urging, launched a mid-decade redistricting scramble meant to shore up vulnerable Republican seats heading into 2026. Cuellar’s 28th District now has a larger Republican base, yet Cuellar believed—and still believes—he can win it again.
The record supports him. The GOP has taken repeated runs at Cuellar over the last decade, only to watch him survive—even in 2024, when he won reelection under indictment.
The charges were serious. In March 2024, the Justice Department charged the congressman and his wife, Imelda, accusing them of accepting payments from an Azerbaijani oil company and a Mexican bank. A judge later dismissed two of the charges, and the trial was set for 2026. Then Trump abruptly ended the case with a pardon.
Imelda Cuellar was pardoned, too. Both had been accused of taking $600,000 in bribes.
Trump appeared to believe that this extraordinary intervention would prompt a party conversion—a point he spelled out in a lengthy 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!”
In short, Trump all but acknowledged that he viewed the pardon as a political transaction. And when the transaction failed, he reacted as if he’d been swindled.
Cuellar, for his part, tried to stay above the fray. When pressed about his party loyalty on Fox News’s “Sunday Morning Futures,” he said he’s a tried-and-true Democrat.
“I’m probably one of the most, if not the most, bipartisan Democrats,” he said. “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.”
Still, he didn’t go out of his way to antagonize Trump. Cuellar noted that he prayed for Trump and his family, adding: “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.”
Trump insisted he was correcting an injustice. He said 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 ultimately reveals is something much more enduring than a single feud. It shows—with unusual clarity—how Trump understands the pardon power: as a political currency, a chip to be traded for loyalty or strategic gain. It also shows the limits of that power. A pardon cannot force gratitude or obedience. And once issued, it cannot be revoked when the beneficiary declines to play along.
Trump expected a Republican seat in exchange for his presidential largesse. Instead, he got a Democrat who thanked him politely and then went right back to being who he has always been.
And Trump, as ever, took it personally.
