GOP senator wants Donald Trump to drop out: Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, who voted to convict in the former president’s second impeachment trial, said this week that following his indictments, former President Trump should drop his plans to seek a return to the presidency.
Donald Trump: Time to Quit 2024?
Donald Trump, despite four indictments this year, has been adamant that he is going to continue running for president, and every major poll has him in the lead in the Republican primary contest.
But one senator, a Republican from a red state, believes that Trump should drop out of the race.
Rep. Bill Cassidy (R-LA), a past Trump critic who voted to convict in the former president’s second impeachment trial, said on CNN over the weekend that he believes the case against Trump, in the classified documents case, is a “slam dunk”- and called on the former president to drop out of the presidential race.
“I mean, you’re just asking me my opinion. But he will lose to Joe Biden if you look at the current polls,” Sen. Cassidy said on CNN’s “State of the Union” show. But he also didn’t sound like he was about to endorse Joe Biden instead.
“I think any Republican on that stage in Milwaukee will do a better job than Joe Biden. And so I want one of them to win. If former President Trump ends up getting the nomination, but cannot win a general, that means we will have four more years of policies which have led to very high inflation … and to many other things which I think have been deleterious to our country’s future,” Cassidy said.
There has been intense pressure on Republicans, even those who are running against Trump for president, to express support for Trump following his indictments and attack prosecutors for overreaching. As has been the case with those who have crossed Trump on other things over the years, the breaking with the former president comes with the implied threat of both mean social media posts from the former president, and the possibility of a primary challenge.
Cassidy, who was backed by Donald Trump when he ran for re-election in 2020, is up again in 2026 but does not appear worried that Trump will do anything to imperil his re-election chances.
As for Trump, he is scheduled to turn himself in to authorities in Georgia on Thursday, the day after the first presidential debate of the cycle, in which the former president will not be participating. A judge in Georgia has issued particularly stringent restrictions on the former president’s social media use.
“The Defendant shall perform no act to intimidate any person known to him or her to be a codefendant or witness in this case or to otherwise obstruct the administration of justice,” Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee said in an order this week. “The above shall include, but are not limited to, posts on social media or reposts of posts made by another individual on social media.”
In other words, Donald Trump will not be able to use Truth Social to attack the judge or others involved with the case, the way he has done in various other legal proceedings over the years- and if he does, he faces the possibility of jail.
Other Trump codefendants, including lawyers John Eastman and Kenneth Chesebro, have reached bond agreements.
On Monday night, Trump referenced District Attorney Fani Willis on Truth Social, in an even more bizarre-than-usual fashion.
“The failed District Attorney of Fulton County (Atlanta), Fani Willis, insisted on a $200,000 Bond from me,” he wrote. “I assume, therefore, that she thought I was a “flight” risk – I’d fly far away, maybe to Russia, Russia, Russia, share a gold domed suite with Vladimir, never to be seen or heard from again. Would I be able to take my very “understated” airplane with the gold TRUMP affixed for all to see. Probably not, I’d be much better off flying commercial – I’m sure nobody would recognize me!’”
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Stephen Silver is a Senior Editor for 19FortyFive. He is an award-winning journalist, essayist and film critic, who is also a contributor to the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Broad Street Review and Splice Today. The co-founder of the Philadelphia Film Critics Circle, Stephen lives in suburban Philadelphia with his wife and two sons. Stephen has authored thousands of articles over the years that focus on politics, technology, and the economy for over a decade. Follow him on Twitter at @StephenSilver.
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