Donald Trump gestures to the crowd as sons Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr. look on near the exit, during a campaign rally at J.S. Dorton Arena in Raleigh, North Carolina, U.S., November 4, 2024. REUTERS/Brian Snyder

A CNN panel of reporters suspect the Republican Party may be shaking off President Donald Trump’s influence.

Susan Glasser, staff writer for the New Yorker, said she was surprised to see so many Republicans standing against Trump and voting to release the Epstein petition, considering the party had devoted itself so thoroughly to the president.

“At least in the first term, there were the occasional bleats of concern from senators who were very concerned about this or that terrible, rhetoric. Now, they don't even say that. They say, like, that's Donald Trump's deal,” said Glasser, adding that she was eager to see if Trump’s supporters would buy his “insulting” claim that he suddenly backed the petition despite fighting so hard to stop it up until now.

CNN anchor Manu Raju pointed out that Indiana Republicans were also rebuffing Trump’s efforts to push a mid-decade gerrymander, and that U.S. senators were ignoring Trump’s calls to end the Senate filibuster.

“Are there signs that people are starting to recognize that Trump is a lame duck?” asked Raju.

CNN National Security Correspondent Kylie Atwoond said “grassroots Republican voters … pushed the hand of Congress first,” before Congress pushed Trump to come around on the Epstein vote. She added that those same hands could still be pushing in the next few months.

“Is the party going to have to go through somewhat of a reckoning, particularly coming up on the midterms next year in terms of what their voters actually want them to do?” Atwood asked. “Is it still ‘anything Trump says goes,” because that's not what we're seeing play out in this situation.”

Politico White House and Foreign Affairs Correspondent Eli Stokols said it’s possible that Republicans may rethink their commitments to an unpopular president as the midterm elections creep close, but said “there's a lot of muscle memory built up” to walk in lockstep with Trump.

“You saw it in those sound bites that you played, asking [Republican lawmakers] if Marjorie Taylor Greene a traitor? They say ‘well, they wouldn't go that far’ but they also say ‘I'm not going to criticize the president.’ So, there's still a lot of reluctance to really separate themselves from the president.”

“I think maybe as we get closer to the election, you may see some more distancing, Stokols added, pointing to Speaker Mike Johnson’s abrupt about-face on supporting the release of the Epstein files. “It's like after the election, a couple Tuesdays ago, it woke everybody up to the fact that they're all going to be on the ballot again very soon. And do they want to be attacked for having opposed the release of this information? They don't.”