GOP Sen. Cassidy on his vote to convict Trump: 'The Republican Party is more than just one person'
Yesterday we got a full accounting of the cowardice of the Republican Party. If even half of these craven cockwaffles had been around in 1941, we’d all be eating sushi and playing Nintendo. Or, um, doing more of that, anyway. Also karaoke. Marginally more karaoke. But we’d be paying for it all in yen, so that would be different at least.
Oh, and the Capitol building would be overrun with Nazis! Or, rather, more of them. And all the time, not just when the pr*sident invites them over.
I feel like my examples aren’t quite landing, so let’s go to the tape, shall we?
Sen. Bill Cassidy was on ABC This Week with George Stephanopoulos this morning to beat back accusations that he’s a quisling to the GQP:
<
p class=”is-empty-p”>
GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: “You are already facing backlash in your home state, as I’m sure you know. The executive committee of the Louisiana GOP voted unanimously to censure you last night. And the chair of the Republican caucus in the Louisiana Statehouse [Blake Miguez] added this; we want to show it right now: ‘Sen. Bill Cassidy, you no longer represent the majority of people in Louisiana who recently voted you into office. You are part of the problem with D.C. Don’t expect a warm welcome when you come home to Louisiana!’ Your response?”
CASSIDY: “I had the privilege of having the facts before me, and being able to spend several days deeply going into those facts. As these facts become more and more out there, if you will, and folks have a chance to look for themselves, more folks will move to where I was. People want to trust, they want to trust their leaders. They want people to be held accountable. Now we are holding, I’m attempting to hold President Trump accountable, and that is the trust I have from the people that elected me, and I am very confident that as time passes, people will move to that position.”
STEPHANOPOULOS: “So you think you’ll eventually represent a majority view in Louisiana?”
CASSIDY: “You know, No. 1, I think I may already represent a majority view. Don’t allow one person’s statement to reflect … the majority of the people in Louisiana, No. 1. And No. 2, I was elected to uphold an oath to support and defend the Constitution. The majority of the people in Louisiana want that to be the case, and I have respected that trust. I have voted to support and defend the Constitution.”
STEPHANOPOULOS: “You probably saw that statement from former President Trump yesterday. He said his political movement has only just begun. Do you think he can run a credible campaign for president again? Will he remain a force in the Republican Party? What does that mean for the Republican Party?”
CASSIDY: “I think his force wanes. The Republican Party is more than just one person.”
I applaud Cassidy for voting his conscience. He may be fibbing a bit when he says the majority of his constituents (particularly the Republicans who put him where he is) might approve of his impeachment vote. But the rest of his comments are spot on. He was elected—as all members of Congress are—to support and defend the Constitution. That’s his No. 1 job, and in this case anyway, he fulfilled his obligation.
He’ll likely be primaried now, and he could very well lose when he runs again in 2026. But that’s a long way off, and it seems equally as likely that Donald Trump will have died of natural causes by then—which in his case means choking to death after realizing he’s accidentally eaten an organic gummy bear.
But as Nancy Pelosi pointed out yesterday, there are more important things than holding onto a Senate seat. Like holding onto our democracy, for instance.
Cassidy is one of the few GOP senators who understands that, and for that at least we should thank him.
”This guy is a natural. Sometimes I laugh so hard I cry.” — BETTE MIDLER on author ALDOUS J. PENNYFARTHING, via Twitter. Need a thorough Trump cleanse? Thanks to Goodbye, Asshat: 101 Farewell Letters to Donald Trump, Dear Fcking Lunatic, Dear Prsident A**clown and Dear F*cking Moron, you can purge the Trump years from your soul sans the existential dread. Only laughs from here on out. Click those links, yo!
