Ahead of his primary fight in May, Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana went out of his way to toe the party line, hoping it might help salvage his career. It did not. Donald Trump set out to destroy Cassidy over his impeachment vote five years ago, and the president exacted his revenge in the spring, orchestrating the incumbent’s defeat.
In the days and weeks that followed, Cassidy started showing something new: signs of independence. Mindful of the fact that his political career was nearly over anyway and that the White House and GOP leaders no longer had any leverage over him, the Louisianan joined what became known as the “YOLO Caucus.” (“YOLO” is slang for “you only live once.”)
It seemed possible, then, that Cassidy might do the right thing on Todd Blanche’s attorney general nomination, since the senator had no real incentive to do the wrong thing. Evidently, it didn’t matter. MS NOW reported:
Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana announced Friday that he will support Todd Blanche to serve as U.S. attorney general on a permanent basis, ending weeks of uncertainty over whether President Donald Trump’s nominee could survive an erosion of GOP support over the widely disputed deal he brokered to resolve Trump’s lawsuit against the IRS in May.
Cassidy, who is retiring next year after a bruising primary loss to his Trump-backed rival, said “I will vote for Mr. Blanche,” in a highly anticipated speech on the Senate floor Friday that officially handed Blanche enough votes to permanently secure a spot in Trump’s Cabinet.
The arithmetic is relatively straightforward: The Senate Republican majority has 53 members. With every member of the Senate Democratic Conference opposed to Blanche and Republican Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky ailing and unavailable for votes, the nominee would fail if three GOP senators balked.
When two Senate Republicans (Maine’s Susan Collins and Alaska’s Lisa Murkowski) announced their opposition, the focus shifted to Cassidy, who had appeared rather skeptical of Blanche in comments to reporters in the run-up to his announcement on the Senate floor.
The Louisianan nevertheless said he’d vote for the nomination to prevent the president from keeping Blanche on as acting attorney general. It suggests the nominee will have 50 votes, which will almost certainly be enough to succeed.
Cassidy acknowledged that his decision would be widely condemned but suggested he’s grown accustomed to criticism and no longer cares.
This outcome wasn’t entirely predictable. Cassidy has long appeared to regret having voted to confirm Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy early last year, when he still felt compelled to pander to his party’s base and to primary voters.
Nearly a year and a half later, Blanche’s nomination offered Cassidy an opportunity, if not to formally undo his mistake on Kennedy, then to level the scales a bit and start to restore his reputation as the senator prepares to leave Capitol Hill.
Cassidy decided instead to let that opportunity pass. History will not be kind.
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