When Donald Trump arrived at the White House for his second term, he warned that he would pursue his enemies. The U.S. president has shown a thirst for revenge against his political rivals and those who took him to trial for his abuses during his first time in the Oval Office.
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This weekend, the U.S. president claimed a new victim. Republican Senator Bill Cassidy, from Louisiana, who voted in favor of the impeachment trial to remove Trump in 2021 for his role in the January 6, 2021 Capitol riot scandal, lost his party’s primary to the candidate supported by the president, Julia Letlow.
Trump did not hide his satisfaction after Cassidy’s defeat. In a post on his social network, Truth, he wrote: “Bill Cassidy, after falsely using his relationship with me during his political career, and winning elections thanks to it, voted in favor of subjecting me to impeachment based on absurd charges that were false then and now border on criminal madness! His disloyalty to the man who got him elected is now part of legend, and it is gratifying to see that his political career has ENDED!”.
Cassidy was one of seven Republican senators who asked Trump to withdraw his candidacy for the 2024 elections after being accused of improperly possessing classified material found after the FBI raid on his Mar-a-Lago mansion (Florida). He also pushed for an independent commission to investigate the Capitol riot. Since then, Trump considers him an enemy.
Iron control over the Republicans
Cassidy’s defeat in the Louisiana primaries, a traditionally conservative state, further strengthens Donald Trump’s control over the Republican Party. The revenge in Louisiana adds to the one the president achieved 10 days ago in Indiana, when he scored an important victory in his own party and showed that those who challenge him end up paying dearly.
In those Indiana state Senate primaries, the president managed to get the majority of his seven candidates (at least five of them) to win. The president proposed them to take revenge on current senators who dared to oppose his proposal to redesign the state’s electoral map to gain an advantage for the midterm elections, which have become difficult for him due to wear from the Iran war, gas prices, and his continuous outbursts.
Letlow led the primaries with 45% of the votes, compared to 28% for Louisiana State Treasurer John Fleming, and 25% for Cassidy, in an unusual electoral result. It is uncommon for sitting senators like Cassidy not to pass the first cut of a primary, as they usually have the support of party leaders in the Capitol, as well as solid financial backing.
Runoff
Letlow and Fleming will face off in a runoff, since neither achieved a majority. However, Cassidy has already been eliminated and will not be able to serve a third term despite trying to ingratiate himself with Trump before these elections. Last year he voted in favor of the controversial nomination of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as Secretary of Health even though Cassidy is a physician by profession and questions some of Kennedy’s policies, such as his reluctance toward vaccines and some medical advances.
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He also opposed the appointment of Casey Means as Surgeon General, as proposed by the White House, which again earned him new criticism from Trump.
“I want to thank a very special man that everyone knows, the best president this country has ever had, President Trump,” Letlow said last night after learning the primary results. The Republican Party’s servitude to the New York real estate magnate is changing the face and history of a conservative party that defended respect for institutions and traditional values. And now it feeds the cult of the leader.
Trump has shown animosity toward Cassidy. “This is the first time in history that a sitting senator loses by such a wide margin in a primary election, even being unable to advance to the next stage,” he wrote without mentioning him in another post on his social network.
The battle for the Republican primaries in Louisiana has been uneven. Trump firmly supported Letlow and ruthlessly attacked Cassidy. This Saturday, before voting began, he wrote: “Senator Bill Cassidy, from Louisiana, is a disloyal disaster. His entire past Senate campaign revolved around Trump, how he was unconditionally with me; and then, after winning, he turned around and voted to impeach me for something that has now been shown to be total ‘crap’.” In his message on social media, the White House occupant added: “Bill Cassidy is a despicable jerk, a terrible guy who is bad for Louisiana. Now he’s going to get a beating — hopefully — in today’s big election, at the hands of two great people!!!”.
Other pending battles
After acknowledging defeat on Saturday night, Cassidy made statements interpreted as a response to the president. “Insults only bother me if they come from someone with character and integrity, and I believe people with character and integrity don’t waste time attacking people on the internet.” And he added: “Our country is not about a single individual. It is about the well-being of all Americans and it is about our Constitution.”
Many senators and representatives who opposed Trump have ended up resigning or not renewing their terms. Others have already announced they will not run in the next race. So Trump will be able to rule his party with an iron hand and reduce the traditional dissidences that parties have in Capitol votes.
The elections in Louisiana were held three days before the primaries in Kentucky, where Trump also hopes to defeat the state’s Republican representative, Thomas Massie, one of the critical voices in his party regarding his policies.