Former Republican strategist Tim Miller had some choice words for Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA) after he announced he would be the deciding vote to confirm Todd Blanche as attorney general.
All of this, he noted for MS NOW's Nicolle Wallace, stems from the GOP's utter inability to say no to President Donald Trump, driven by their voters continuing to stick with him in large numbers.
This differs somewhat from former President George W. Bush's second term, said Miller, because "when Bush'snumbers went down after Katrina,as the war started to turn, asthe economy started to get badin the second term, they wentdown kind of with everybody,like Democrats went from 12 percentsupport to two and independentsfrom 50 to 20 and Republicansfrom 90 to 70. Like it wentdown across the board."
While some Trump supporters have peeled off, it's not nearly to the same extent with "the core MAGA base," said Miller. "And so you have thesecandidates who I do think arescared of ... ifthey try to get away from him too much, then they'll doomthemselves, if they stick withhim too much, they'll doomthemselves."
None of this, however, explains Cassidy's vote, added Miller, since he was already ousted by Trump in his own primary and has nothing left to lose.
"Cassidytoday to me looked like a manthat had lost all self-respect,a completely broken shell of aman," said Miller. And, he added, "the quote thatreally stuck with me from thespeech was, before you even explain whyhe's going to confirm Blanche,he was like, people are goingto criticize me for this. Theyalways do. And he's like, he'sdoing this woe is me thing onthe Senate floor."
In other words, said Miller, his attitude was "oh,these guys always, no matterwhat I do, I'm gonna getcriticized. I'm gonna getyelled at. So why do the rightthing? Why not just do the easything?" This way at least, he can avoid angering anyone at the "Baton Rouge country club" and can go lobby for GOP-aligned corporations next year.
"Is thejuice worth the squeeze? Maybenot," added Miller. "Or do they have therespect of backbone to do it,the intestinal fortitude to doit? Not really."
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