What Goes Around Comes Around, Ask Bill Cassidy

It was a blindly stupid move, and the three-time incumbent was beaten like a rented mule in his reelection primary, finishing third behind Trump-endorsed Rep. Julia Letlow and State Treasurer John Fleming, who have advanced to the June 27 runoff, delivering a massive win for President Donald Trump’s America First agenda.

Letlow finished with 44.8 percent, Fleming had 28.3 percent, while Cassidy was bringing up the rear with 24.8 percent.

Trump, never one to mince words, yesterday called Cassidy, "a disloyal disaster" and a sleazebag, a terrible guy, who is BAD FOR LOUISIANA. It’s nice to see that his political career is OVER!"

In his concession speech, Cassidy said: "When you participate in democracy, sometimes it doesn't turn out the way you want it to, but you don't pout, you don't whine. You don't claim the election was stolen… You don't manufacture some excuse," Cassidy said in a jab at Trump.

"You thank the voters for the privilege of representing the state or the country for as long as you've had that privilege. And that's what I'm doing right now."

Trump’s relationship with Cassidy, like most relationships, is complicated. After winning re-election six years ago, Cassidy was one of only seven Senate Republicans who, in early 2021, voted to convict Trump after he was impeached by the House for his role in the Main Stream Media’s overblown and overstated protest carried out by his supporters to dispute the congressional certification of former President Joe Biden's farcical 2020 election victory. Trump was ultimately acquitted by the Senate.

Cassidy has worked to amend his mistake and has generally supported Trump since his reelection, including voting to approve Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

Still, Kennedy and his movement to MAHA were not so quick to forgive. Cassidy, a doctor, has been skeptical of Kennedy's efforts to reform the nation's health policies, including his attempts to reduce vaccine recommendations.

Additionally, Kennedy allies have criticized Cassidy, the chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, for contributing to the defeat of Casey Means' nomination as surgeon general. Means is a close ally of Kennedy and a leading advocate for the Massachusetts Alliance for Health Advocacy (MAHA). Cassidy did not schedule a committee vote on the nomination, which ultimately led to its failure.

Cassidy and a supportive super PAC spent over $20 million on advertisements, according to AdImpact, a national ad tracking firm. This amount exceeded the total spent by Letlow and Fleming combined.

In some advertisements, Letlow faced criticism for her prior support of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs during her time at the University of Louisiana at Monroe.

Cassidy stated that Republican voters are concerned about her changing stance on DEI and about her having been fully supportive of it.

About that, Fox News reported that Letlow claims that:

"back in 2020 whenever DEI was introduced to us, we had no idea what it was back then, and I quickly witnessed it. I was in higher education at the time. I quickly witnessed the left completely hijack it, turn it into this Marxist leftist indoctrination of our children. And so, when I got to Congress for the last five years, I've been fighting against it.”

She also faced scrutiny for failing to disclose more than 200 personal stock and bond trades by the mandated 45-day reporting deadline for members of Congress.

Letlow claims it “was a reporting error on my financial advisor's part. And once I realized that that had happened, I quickly remedied it. It has never happened since."

She also went on record saying that Cassidy and Fleming’s attacks on her over DEI and stock trading were "all baseless attacks, desperate attacks."

Letlow won/inherited her congressional seat in 2021 after her husband, Luke Letlow, passed away six days after being sworn into the U.S. House following his 2020 election victory for the seat she now occupies.

Fleming, who will participate in a runoff against Letlow, was a deputy chief of staff at the White House during Trump's first term and claims to be the most conservative candidate in the GOP Senate primary.

Referring to Louisiana Republicans, he told Fox News Digital:

“They see me clearly MAGA, I served in his entire first administration at various capacities. I was one of the first congressmen who endorsed him in 2016."

Louisiana’s political landscape is clearly muddled. President Trump seems willing to roll the dice with Republicans who haven’t yet crossed him. Cassidy, with his vote to impeach Trump, clearly crossed a line that there is no backing away from.

The good news is that no matter whether it’s Letlow or Fleming who runs against the Democrats in November, both are more suited for public service than any Democrat on the ticket. Cassidy, on the other hand, is forced to sit and ponder how tragic his mistake was in 2021.