After Sen. Bill Cassidy fell far short in his Louisiana primary, the longtime Republican lawmaker delivered a concession speech that took some unsubtle shots at the president who orchestrated his defeat. “When you participate in democracy, sometimes it doesn’t turn out the way you want it to,” the senator said. “But you don’t pout, you don’t whine, you don’t claim the election was stolen.”
In the same concession speech, the Louisianian said, “Let me just set the record straight: Our country is not about one individual. It is about the welfare of all Americans, and it is about our Constitution. And if someone doesn’t understand that and attempts to control others by using the levers of power, they’re about serving themselves. They’re not about serving us. And that person is not qualified to be a leader.”
Cassidy didn’t mention Donald Trump by name, but he didn’t have to. His point wasn’t exactly subtle.
The next question was whether the senator was prepared to follow through on his Saturday night remarks and become a thorn in the side of the president responsible for ending his career.
As the week got underway, the Republican lawmaker, who still has 228 days remaining in his term, downplayed the idea that he would use his office to retaliate against the White House. Since then, Cassidy has:
- Publicly condemned the Trump administration’s so-called anti-weaponization fund, calling it a “slush fund” that needs congressional scrutiny.
- Announced his opposition to a pending proposal to direct millions in taxpayer money to Trump’s vanity ballroom project.
- Switched his position and voted with Democrats on a war powers resolution related to Trump’s war in Iran.
- Voiced his disapproval of the president’s endorsement of Ken Paxton in Texas’ Senate race, calling the state attorney general a “felon.”
Or put another way, Cassidy has shown more independence in two days than in the previous 16 months.
I’m going to go out on a limb and argue that’s probably not a coincidence: Members tend to show their true colors after they announce their retirement and they no longer have to worry about traditional electoral pressures. But this also applies, to an even greater extent, to members who have lost primaries and who suddenly have the opportunity to do as they please.
For the past year and a half, Cassidy, desperate to keep his job and avoid becoming the first elected senator to lose a primary in more than a decade, has kept his head down, sticking to a partisan script and avoiding confrontations with the White House. Now that he is freed from those pressures, he has clearly shifted his posture.
I’m mindful of Cassidy’s critics, who have argued persuasively that his sudden evolution comes far too late to warrant plaudits. He had a responsibility to protect the public from Robert F. Kennedy Jr., for example, and the Louisianian nevertheless voted to confirm the unqualified conspiracy theorist to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, likely in the hopes that it would help him keep his seat. (It did not.)
But while those criticisms have merit, I’m nevertheless interested to see whether and to what extent Cassidy can use his role to make a practical difference in the coming months, potentially helping derail proposals and nominees who would otherwise advance. Watch this space.
This post updates our related earlier coverage.
The post After Trump became a problem for Cassidy, Cassidy is becoming a problem for Trump appeared first on MS NOW.
