'We're not a cult': GOP Senator Bill Cassidy says he doesn't think Trump will be party's 2024 nominee, places blame for Republicans' midterm underperformance
Republican Senator Bill Cassidy blamed the GOP's unexpectedly disappointing midterm performance on Donald Trump and implied that he does not believe the former president and de facto party leader will be the party's 2024 nominee.
The second-term senator from Louisiana told NBC's Chuck Todd that the GOP is 'not a cult.'
'We're not like, 'Okay, there's one person who leads out party.''
'We are not going to have one person anointed unless she or he happens to be a sitting president,' he said.
Cassidy specifically called out Trump-backed candidates who lost their races for the Republican failure to secure majority control of the Senate and lose winnable seats in the House.
'Those that were most closely aligned with the past, those are the ones that underperformed,' Cassidy said on NBC's Meet the Press.
'We as a party need to have a debate about ideas. In that debate we need to explain to the American people exactly where we think our country should go,' he said.
Following a discouraging midterm election, in which Republicans were expected to pick up a number of seats in the House and the Senate, the party is reeling attempting to determine how to ensure a better outcome for their interests in 2024.
Republicans will likely still win control of the House of Representatives, pending the outcome of several critical races - but the majority will not be nearly as large as it was once anticipated to be.
Senate control appears to be out of reach for the GOP as incumbent Senator Catherine Cortez Masto was declared the likely winner of a competitive race against Adam Laxalt in Nevada.
Senator Cassidy said he believes the takeaway from the election is that 'the American people want a way forward that actually focused on ideas.
'Ideas that will make their lives better, not just their lives but that for future generations,' he said.
Todd repeatedly asked Cassidy about his opinion of Donald Trump and whether he places blame on the former president for some of the candidates who came up short.
Those who are most closely aligned with the former president underperformed,' he said. 'Those who are talking about the future or who had managed their states well, they overperformed.'
'The American people want ideas. They want a future,' he reiterated.
When asked at the end of the interview whether he would support Trump as the party's 2024 presidential nominee, he declined to respond directly and implied that the party will not again nominate the real estate tycoon.
'Our party should be about the future. I think our next candidate will be looking to the future, not to the past, and I think our next candidate will win,' he said.
'I anticipate supporting a candidate that is looking to the future,' he added.
During his second impeachment trial, following January 6, Senator Cassidy was one of seven senators who voted to convict the former president
Trump is expected to launch his third presidential bid this coming week at Mar-a-Lago, to the dismay of some in his party.
The former president has also been highly critical of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, who may face a challenger during the upcoming Senate leadership election, especially after Republicans failed to make expected gains in the Upper Chamber.
Cassidy, however, said he will support McConnell as his party's leader in the Senate,
'I think Mitch kind of pulled the chestnuts out of the fire for candidates who, for whatever reason, were having a difficult time raising the money that, as you pointed out, was required to have a winning campaign,' said Cassidy, who added that he believed McConnell will emerge victorious from leadership elections.
McConnell's Super PAC - the Senate Leadership Fund - was responsible for a number of significant cash injections into races that were unexpectedly tight like Ted Budd's in North Carolina.
Some conservative Senators - including Florida's Marco Rubio and Rick Scott, Wisconsin's Ron Johnson, Missouri's Josh Hawley, Wyoming's Cynthia Lummis, Utah's Mike Lee, and Texas's Ted Cruz - have called to postpone Senate leadership elections.
But GOP leaders are attempting to stick to the schedule.
Senate Conference Chair John Barasso of Wyoming wrote GOP senators on Friday to tell them the party will hold its leadership elections on Wednesday, as planned.