Bill Cassidy

I come here to, once again, voice deep disappointment that U.S.. Sen Bill Cassidy declined to act on his legitimate, serious concerns over a deeply flawed Donald Trump nominee.

With the confirmation of former Trump personal lawyer Todd Blanche to be attorney general basically in Cassidy’s hands, I’d let myself hope for more from the rare GOP politician in Washington who’s shown he’s capable of it. Even after the good doctor from Baton Rouge cast the pivotal vote to allow Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to basically dismantle the federal government’s health care agencies.

I couldn’t call Cassidy’s announcement that he’d support Blanche’s nomination in a Friday morning Senate floor speech shocking. This is a man who did everything he could, no matter how humiliating, to placate Trump after Cassidy’s 2021 vote to convict him for inciting the Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol attack — only to watch the reinstated president gleefully recruit an unquestioning loyalist into the Louisiana GOP primary and end the senator’s career.

What got my attention was his framing of his dilemma, which seemed aimed at appeasing people who feel, well, like I do.

Cassidy started off by saying this wasn’t about whether someone likes or dislikes the president, and therefore his nominee. He acknowledged his fraught history with Trump but insisted that “does not matter one bit.”

He allowed that he had concerns over Blanche’s actions as acting attorney general, including his approval of the slush fund that would have paid out federal money to those same rioters who’d attacked the Capitol at Trump’s direction, the broad immunity granted to Trump and his family from the IRS and the Department of Justice’s targeting of the president’s political enemies, which Cassidy correctly noted undermines the rule of law.

And yet, he made a case for confirmation.

He said he has no doubt that Trump will continue to be “unrelenting” in pursuing these matters, but argued that a Senate-confirmed attorney general would have a better shot at pushing back than an acting appointee. He said Blanche should not be held responsible for Trump’s terrible decisions, including his mass pardon of Jan. 6 criminals. He noted that Blanche has focused resources on areas such as violent crime and fraud, and quoted respected U.S. Attorney David Courcelle of Louisiana’s Eastern District saying Blanche has provided extra resources when asked. He contended that anyone else who could wind up in the job, confirmed or not, could be worse.

In the alternate universe where Cassidy so clearly wants us to join him, maybe those arguments would be convincing.

In reality, they fell utterly flat.

Cassidy pulled out the tired both-sides trope, but he knows darn well that the DOJ’s reputation has already been obliterated on Blanche’s watch, first as deputy attorney general and then as acting AG.

Thousands of experienced lawyers have left, some of whom had been ordered to pursue unethical investigations of protesters and Trump critics. In both civil and criminal cases, multiple judges appointed by presidents of both parties have slammed DOJ lawyers for amateurish, unprofessional or downright dishonest work.

There’s no evidence to suggest Blanche would push back against Trump, or if he did, he’d have any success. Maybe Cassidy’s right that another appointee could be worse, but things sure won’t improve with Blanche in charge.

That’s one reason Cassidy’s vote cuts so deep.

Here’s another: For his 12 years in office, Cassidy was the reliable Republican he promised to be when he unseated Democrat Mary Landrieu, all while often doing good work on behalf of his whole state and his country — even when his party punished him for it. He wrestled over the Blanche and Kennedy nominations and ultimately chose the wrong side both times, but most of the Republicans who’ll still be there after he leaves in January didn’t appear to lose a moment’s sleep.