Former President Donald Trump blasted Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) Monday after the lawmaker suggested ź¦Trump might not win the Republican nomination if he runs for president in 2024.
“Wacky Senator Bill Cassidy from Louisiana is a RINO Republican who begged for my endorsement in 2020 and used it all over the place to win re-election, much like Little Ben Sasse [R-Neb.], and then voted to impeach your favorite President,” Trump began an emailed statement.
Cassidy, one of seven Senate Republicans who voted to convict Trump of inciting insurrection in connection with the deadly Jan. 6 riot at the US Capitol, told “Axios on HBO” in an interview that aired Sunday night that the 45th president was “the first president ā on the Republican side, at least ā to lose the House, the Senate and the presidency in four years.”
“Elections are about winning,” Cassidy added.
“You think that if he ran, he could lose the nomination?” host Mike Allen asked.
“If you want to win the presidency, and hopefully thatās what voters are thinking about, I think he might,” answered Cassidy, who added that he would not support Trump if he tried to become the second president ever to win non-consecutive terms.
Cassidy, 64, won reelection by 40 percentage points over his nearest Democratic competitor in November, while Trump defeated Biden by fewer than 19 percentage points. Cassidy also won 63 of the Pelican State’s 64 parishes in 2020, while Trump won 54 parishes. While Cassidy won approximately 27,000 fewer raw votes than the 45th president, he won a higher percentage of the vote in his race than Trump did in his (59.3 percent to 58.5 percent).
“Now, Wacky Bill Cassidy can’t walk down the street in Louisiana, a State I won by almost 20 points,” Trump said in his email. “He could not even be elected dog catcher today, the great people curse him. Wacky Bill is a totally ineffective Senator, but Louisiana does have a great Senator in John Kennedy.”
Trump has į¦repeatedly hinted that he will seek the Republican nomination in 2024, but has declined to make a formal announcement. Polls show Trump as a heavy favorite to win the nomination if he does declarš¼e his candidacy.
In the same interview, Cassidy defended his vote to convict Trump, which led to him being censured by the Republican Party of Louisiana.
“I slept very well that night,” the lawmaker said of his decision. “I take an oath to support and defend the Constitution, and when there was a pattern of behavior that culminated as it did, on January the 6th, and weāve had revelations since, that just led me to that decision.”