U.S. President Donald Trump looks on as he speaks to reporters onboard Air Force One, on travel from West Palm Beach, Florida, to Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, U.S., February 16, 2026.
Former Bush speechwriter and Bulwark podcaster Tim Miller lamented the sorry state of the modern Republican Party, explaining that the party keeps slipping deeper into President Donald Trump’s grasp despite wide majorities of voters hating the man.
Miller pointed to the recent surrender of Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) in approving Trump’s controversial AG nominee (and former Trump personal defense attorney) Todd Blanche for confirmation, despite Blanche’s blatant toadying to Trump.
Republicans, Miller told MS NOW anchor Nicole Wallace, are in a rotten position however, thanks to their own capitulation to the worst element of their party.
“You have these candidates who I do think are scared if they try to get away from [Trump] too much, then he’ll do them in. But if they stick with him too much, they'll doom themselves. … The economy is terrible everywhere. We lost jobs last month. It's really bad in Kansas. It's really bad in the plains and the farm country. And [incumbent Sen.] Roger Marshall (R-Kan.) is out there talking about ‘trusting Trump. He's been the best.’ And I'm like, why? … He's out there defending the Iran war. Why?”
But Republicans are terrified of MAGA base retaliation if they distance themselves from Trump, said Miller. This doesn't explain Cassidy’s Blanche support, however, Miller said, especially considering Trump personally manipulated the Republican primary to oust Cassidy from the Senate.
“Self-respect is pretty important,” said Miller. “Cassidy today to me looked like a man that had lost all self-respect, a completely broken shell of a man. The quote that really stuck with me from his speech was ‘people are going to criticize me for this. They always do.’ And he's doing this ‘woe is me’ thing on the Senate floor. Like, oh, these guys always, no matter what I do, I'm gonna get criticized. I'm gonna get yelled at. So why do the right thing? Why not just do the easy thing? You know, this way when I go back to Baton Rouge country club, nobody's going to be mad at me. And if I want to lobby for the pharmaceutical companies next year, nobody's going to be mad at me.”
“I do think that there's this kind of sense of giving up among a lot of the Republicans where Trump is unpopular,” Miller added.
Wallace pointed out that Cassidy “obviously didn't think [a vote for Blanche] was the right thing, but did it anyway.
“If he thought it was the right thing, he would have done it before today on the Senate floor. He wouldn't have made a big press announcement before it came down. So, he contributed to the portrait of himself as someone without any self-respect,” said Wallace.
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