Bulwark Congressional reporter Joe Perticone reports that Republican elected officials, GOP operatives and staffers, military officers, and chiefs of staff “seem to never learn” that handing over their loyalty to Trump meaning nothing.
“Louisiana Sen. Bill Cassidy is the latest to realize this only after the president’s knife has been embedded firmly in his back,” Perticone wrote.
On Saturday, Trump followed his grudge and endorsed MAGA-aligned Louisiana state representative Julia Letlow to unseat Cassidy in the Republican primary.
“Should she decide to enter this Race, Julia Letlow has my Complete and Total Endorsement,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “RUN, JULIA, RUN!!!”
Perticone reports Cassidy had been telling colleagues that White House staff had assured that Trump would remain neutral in the race. Perticone added that other Republican senators, including Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.), tried to talk Trump out of endorsing Letlow and keeping his finger off the scale in Louisiana's elections.
“But Trump couldn’t resist. And Cassidy now finds himself stuck in a race that looks nearly impossible to win,” Perticone reports.
“It’s not as though Cassidy didn’t put in the work,” Perticone said. “The senator voted to confirm the president’s most deranged Cabinet nominations, backed his signature piece of legislation, posted fawning messages about him online and introduced a resolution nominating him for the Nobel Peace Prize. Cassidy also took the lead on an attempt to pass a major health care reform on Trump’s behalf ... Cassidy even swallowed his pride when Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Trump’s anti-vaccine HHS secretary, began reneging on commitments he’d made in exchange for Cassidy’s vote for confirmation.”
But Cassidy had voted to convict Trump in the January 6th impeachment trial years ago.
“[O]nce he did that, it became clear that he was never going to get free of the president’s bad side,” Perticone said.
Cassidy is probably doomed, said Perticone. It’s not unheard of for Republican voters to ignore Trump’s interventions and elevate seasoned politicians over MAGA challengers in GOP primaries, but Perticone says this is rare.
“When Trump decides he wants to wade into a Republican primary, it is awfully difficult for more level-headed people in his party to stop him. Cassidy will probably become the latest victim of this swamp monster of presidential resentment, but he certainly won’t be the last,” said Perticone “Even so, most Republicans behave as if it could never happen to them.”
