Bill Cassidy

Republicans Very Slow To Condemn Donald Trump Over Dinner With Nick Fuentes!

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The Republican Party has been very slow to condemn Donald Trump over the dinner he hosted at Mar a Lago with supremacist, anti Semitic, and Holocaust Denier Nick Fuentes, as well as the looney Kanye West.

Former Vice President Mike Pence said Trump should apologize.

Mitch McConnell, Senate Minority Leader, said that the behavior was reprehensible.

Others made it clear they were uncomfortable, but would not say they thought an apology by Trump was required, including Senator Lindsey Graham, Senator Tommy Tuberville, Senator Joni Ernst, and Senator Roy Blunt.

Former Governor Chris Christie, Governor Asa Hutchinson, Senator Mitt Romney, and Senator Bill Cassidy were stronger, but also did not insist on an apology.

Future likely Speaker Kevin McCarthy tried to defend Trump, while saying Fuentes and West should not have been invited to dinner at the White House.

Clearly, the Republican leadership lacks guts and principle, and continues to bow to the Fascist authoritarian Donald Trump!

17 Republicans Join 50 Democrats In First Senate Vote On Physical Infrastructure Legislation

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In a surprising development, 17 Republican Senators joined the 50 Democratic Senators to vote for a version of the Physical Infrastructure legislation, a promising sign of bipartisanship.

The 17 Republicans who voted in favor include:

Roy Blunt Missouri
Richard Burr North Carolina
Shelley Moore Capito West Virginia
Bill Cassidy Louisiana
Susan Collins Maine
Kevin Cramer North Dakota
Mike Crapo Idaho
Lindsey Graham South Carolina
Chuck Grassley Iowa
John Hoeven North Dakota
Mitch McConnell Kentucky
Lisa Murkowski Alaska
Rob Portman Ohio
James Risch Idaho
Mitt Romney Utah
Thom Tillis North Carolina
Todd Young Indiana

This list includes moderates Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski, and Mitt Romney, but also leading figures in the party, including Lindsey Graham, Chuck Grassley, Mitch McConnell, and Rob Portman. It also includes both Republican Senators from North Carolina, North Dakota, and Idaho, an unlikely scenario!

And yet, Donald Trump has condemned this move in the Senate, and particularly attacked Mitt Romney, terming him a RINO (Republican In Name Only), and it is all jealousy that he was unable to accomplish any infrastructure legislation during his Presidency, despite saying it was an important goal!

It is good to see that Republicans are ignoring Donald Trump on this matter, and hopefully, the party will wrest its freedom from the danger that Donald Trump represents!

Possible Infrastructure Deal With Enough Republican Senators, But Will It Be Acceptable To Democrats?

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A possible compromise infrastructure deal is in the works, as eleven Republican Senators seem to be on board.

This includes the following Senators:

Richard Burr of North Carolina
Bill Cassidy of Louisiana
Susan Collins of Maine
Lindsey Graham of South Carolina
Jerry Moran of Kansas
Lisa Murkowski of Alaska
Rob Portman of Ohio
Mitt Romney of Utah
Mike Rounds of South Dakota
Thom Tillis of North Carolina
Todd Young of Indiana

Some of this group also seem willing to work on a voting rights bill, along with Ben Sasse of Nebraska, Tim Scott of South Carolina, and Dan Sullivan of Alasks.

While this is encouraging, the question is whether all Democrats will be willing to work on compromise legislation on both bills, and that seems a quandary without easy solution.

The 35 House Republicans Who Supported Creation Of A January 6 Insurrection Commission, But Will Senate Republicans Follow?

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The number of House Republicans who supported the impeachment of Donald Trump in January, after the US Capitol Insurrection of January 6, was ten members.

The number of House Republicans who voted last week to support the creation of a January 6 Insurrection Commission is 35 members, which is one sixth of the Republican House membership, with 175 Republicans voting against the bill.

They come from 23 states, including 4 from New York; and 2 each from Florida, Texas, Illinois, Ohio, Michigan, Washington, Nebraska, Utah, and Arkansas.

The other states are California, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Oregon, Indiana, South Carolina, West Virginia, Iowa, Wyoming, South Dakota, Oklahoma, Mississippi, and Idaho.

The big question is whether 10 Republican Senators would go along with the creation of the January 6 Commission, and one would think the 7 Senators who voted to convict Trump in February 2021 (Mitt Romney, Ben Sasse, Lisa Murkowski, Susan Collins, Pat Toomey, Richard Burr, and Bill Cassidy) would do so, but already it seems unlikely that will happen!

It is believed that up to 15 Republican Senators “might’ support the creation of the Commission, but no certainty, when it should be supported by all who want the unvarnished truth!

In any case, there will be a House Commission formed by Nancy Pelosi, and the Republicans will nnly harm their own reputations, and their political futures, by working to deny a full investigation, with their full participation.

Covering up or denying reality will not play well, and will only doom the Republican Party future!

A Salute To The Ten House Members and 7 Senators Who Supported Impeachment And Conviction Of Donald Trump!

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It takes courage and principle for a political figure to speak up for truth and transparency.

It is much easier to go “with the crowd”, to stay silent and conform, but a total of 17 Republicans, 10 in the House of Representatives, and 7 in the Unites States Senate, stand out for their convictions and commitment to the truth.

They deserve credit, as they have been pilloried for disloyalty to Donald Trump, and have been censured by their state Republican party organizations.

In the long run of history, they will be remembered, as members of Congress who opposed the majority, and suffered mightily at the time, but look strong and determined in retrospect.

When these 17 Republicans leave Congress and when their earthly journey comes to a end, their stand on Donald Trump’s impeachment will be part of their eventual obituary.

And if not to have principles and conscience, what is the whole point of public service?

Here is the list of reputable Republicans in Congress:

US House of Representatives

Liz Cheney of Wyoming
Tom Rice of South Carolina
Dan Newhouse of Washington
Adam Kinzinger of Illinois
Anthony Gonzalez of Ohio
Fred Upton of Michigan
Jaime Herrera Beutler of Washington
Peter Meijer of Michigan
John Katko of New York
David Valadao of California

The US Senate

Richard Burr of North Carolina
Bill Cassidy of Louisiana
Susan Collins of Maine
Lisa Murkowski of Alaska
Mitt Romney of Utah
Ben Sasse of Nebraska
Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania

With Donald Trump Appearing At CPAC, Republican Party Is In Process Of Suicidal Behavior

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The Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), occurring this coming weekend, is a situation of the Republican Party being in the process of suicidal behavior, by permitting Donald Trump to appear and rile his right wing base!

The Republican Party in Congress is imploding right now, between backing white supremacy and Christian Evangelicalism, and undermining the responsible conservative base, including Ben Sasse, Mitt Romney, Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski, Pat Toomey, Richard Burr, and Bill Cassidy in the Senate!

And the horrific reaction of Kevin McCarthy, House Minority Leader, to Liz Cheney, who has the principles and courage to make clear that Donald Trump cannot be allowed to be the future of the party, is a sign of long term decline. Instead of following Cheney, Adam Kinzinger, and eight other principled House conservatives, McCarthy is hitching his star to the crazed former President!

The Most BiPartisan Impeachment Trial In American History

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Donald Trump may have been able to avoid conviction in his second Impeachment Trial yesterday, but it was the most bipartisan impeachment trial in American history, nevertheless.

11 Republican House members moved to impeach Trump for his inciting of the January 6, 2021 Capitol Insurrection, including Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger as the most prominent, and 7 Senate Republicans (Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski, Mitt Romney, Ben Sasse, Pat Toomey, Bill Cassidy, Richard Burr) vote to convict Trump.

The vote of 57-43 to convict was ten votes short of the two thirds required, but if this was a piece of legislation, or an election, a percentage of 57-43 would be seen as a landslide!

Donald Trump has poisoned the Republican Party, and sadly, the state committees in the states where Republicans showed principle, have gone ahead and censured those courageous House and Senate members.

But in the long run of history those 11 House members and 7 Senators will stand tall, and the Republican Party is doomed for its allowing itself to become the party of Trump, and the effort to preserve democracy and the future, if any, of the party of Lincoln, TR, Ike and Reagan, must be waged for the security and safety of the nation in the future!

Donald Trump will go down in the long run as the worst President in American history, lower than James Buchanan and Andrew Johnson, because he will be seen as a Fascist authoritarian who endangered the nation, and he will face prosecution as an ordinary citizens for many crimes, including the events of January 6, 2021!

Republican Party Digging Its Grave, With Only About Ten Percent Acknowledging Joe Biden Victory

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The Republican Party is digging its own grave, with their reprehensible behavior, with only ten percent, or approximately 27 out of about 250 members of the party in Congress, acknowledging Joe Biden’s overwhelming victory in the Presidential Election of 2020.

The Republican Party refusal to stand up to Donald Trump and his childish temper tantrum behavior is going to reverberate on them in the future, as droves of voters abandon the party of Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush, as they become a more extremist right wing group of lunatics!

Twelve US Senators and 15 House members have publicly accepted that the election is over, with the Senators being the following:

Lisa Murkowski of Alaska
Susan Collins of Maine
Mitt Romney of Utah
Ben Sasse of Nebraska
Lamar Alexander of Tennessee
Patrick Toomey of Pennsylvania
Marco Rubio of Florida
Bill Cassidy of Louisiana
Deb Fischer of Nebraska
Shelley Moore Capito Of West Virginia
Jerry Moran of Kansas
James Risch of Idaho

The two most notable Congressmen are Will Hurd of Texas, who is retiring from Congress, and Adam Kinzinger of Illinois, who is notable for speaking out against Trump before the election.

Additionally, three Senators have indicated that they will accept Joe Biden as legitimate, when the Electoral College declares him the winner, with those three Senators being Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, Chuck Grassley of Iowa, and Mike Rounds of South Dakota.

The rest of the Republicans are “Missing in Action”, failing to do their job, and refusing to show proper respect and acceptance of the person elected by a margin of 7 million popular votes, and for that, they will be condemned in history!

The Graham-Cassidy Last Ditch Attempt To Destroy ObamaCare: Proof That Republicans Do Not Care About Americans Having Health Care!

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Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Senator Bill Cassidy of Louisiana are trying to ram through a last ditch attempt at destroying ObamaCare, and putting up to 32 million people off of affordable health care.

This proves that Republicans do not care about Americans having health care, and yet they are supposedly Pro-Life, but only until a fetus is born, and after that, if you are poor, tough on you!

Graham is outrageous enough to say that ObamaCare is “Socialism”, which most certainly is NOT so!

It is very similar to RomneyCare in Massachusetts and to the American Enterprise Institute–Bob Dole–Newt Gingrich plan of 1993-94 in opposition to HillaryCare, promoted by First Lady Hillary Clinton.

It keeps the health care system under private insurance companies, so how is it “Socialism”?

But Graham must think that Social Security and Medicare are “Socialism”, but vast majorities of the American people like both programs, but of course, the Republicans would love to destroy both, even though the middle class and the poor benefit from them.

The battle must be continued to keep ObamaCare, but work to IMPROVE it, as all government programs can certainly be improved over time.

It now seems that Senator John McCain of Arizona has come to the rescue once again, as he stated today that he could not, in good conscience, support the bill, even though it is sponsored by his closest friend in the Senate, Lindsey Graham. Now that is principle, a rare virtue in the Senate in recent years.

It is also believed that two women, Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, who joined with McCain a month ago on the earlier rejection of a similar bill, will do so again, and Rand Paul of Kentucky is a definite NO vote this time, but because he feels the bill keeps remnants of ObamaCare, which he wishes to reject completely. So he is NOT a hero, but then he and his dad, former Texas Congressman Ron Paul are both libertarian whackos!

Family Names May Not Help Democratic Senators In Alaska, Arkansas, Louisiana, But Senate Will Remain Democratic With Margin of 53-47 Or 52-48!

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Three Democratic Senators with famous family names and moderate conservative records in office seem likely to be victims of the Republican opposition, and to lose their seats in November.

Mark Begich’s father was a Congressman from Alaska, but Begich seems likely to lose his seat to Dan Sullivan, the GOP nominee for his seat.

Mark Pryor’s father was a Senator from Arkansas, but Pryor seems likely to lose his seat to Republican Congressman Tom Cotton.

Mary Landrieu’s father and brother were Mayors of New Orleans, but although she is known for winning tight races, it seems likely she will lose her seat in the Senate to Republican Congressman Bill Cassidy.

However, these losses are likely to be matched by victories in Kentucky, Georgia, and Kansas, which will make it an even balance, and Virginia, Minnesota, Michigan, Iowa, Colorado, and Oregon are highly likely to remain Democratic. It is also clear that Montana and West Virginia are likely to switch from Democratic to Republican.

So the one seat left to be mentioned is South Dakota, with its four way race of Republican former Governor Mike Rounds; former Republican, now Independent Larry Pressler; and Democrat Rick Weiland, with even a fourth candidate, another Independent, Gordon Howie, making it highly likely that either Weiland or Pressler (who voted for Barack Obama twice despite his earlier GOP service in the Senate) might win this donnybrook of a race and join the Democratic caucus in the US Senate.

So this blogger predicts a final Senate of either 52 or 53 Democrats and Independents, and 47 or 48 Republicans, depending on South Dakota’s final results. That would be a 2 to 3 seat gain in the Senate for the GOP, but control of the Senate continuing for the Democrats!