‘We’re Not a Cult’: GOP Senator Rejects Chuck Todd Describing Trump as GOP ‘Leader’ in Tense Debate On Meet the Press
Senator Bill Cassidy (R-LA) objected to Chuck Todd’s characterization of former President Donald Trump as a “leader” of the Republican Party.
Cassidy joined Todd on Meet The Press to talk about the GOP’s disappointing performance in the midterm elections, where he assessed that “those that were most closely aligned with the past, those were the ones that underperformed.” The conversation continued with Cassidy opining that Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell should remain in his role after he “pulled the chestnuts out of the fire for candidates who, for whatever reason, were having a difficult time.”
“I think going forward, Mitch will be our leader,” said Cassidy. “But that is not to say that we’re not going to have a necessary debate about ideas. And I think it’s very, again, one more time, important for us to explain to the American voter why Republicans have a better vision for the future of our country.”
Todd pressed Cassidy on the top Republicans who oversaw Tuesday night’s electoral flop, saying “If this is the result of these elections, but the Republican Party still has, sort of, the same leadership – at RNC, Ronna McDaniel, Kevin McCarthy of House Republicans, Mitch McConnell, the Senate Republicans and of course Donald Trump is sort of the leader out there — if there’s no change there, do you think that’s a problem for Republicans going forward?”
Cassidy answered by refusing Todd’s premise that the former president is a Republican Party leader.
First, we’re not a cult. We’re not like ‘Okay, there’s one person who leads our party.’ If we have a sitting president, she or he will be the leader of our party. But we should be a party of ideas and principles, and that’s what should lead us. And I will go back, what we’ve been lacking, perhaps, is that fulsome discussion, followed up with the policy initiatives that we work to pass that will define who we are, again, we are not going to have one person anointed, unless she or he happens to be a sitting president. We should have a set of principles and ideas and legislative accomplishments that is our lodestar, if you will. That’s where we need to go.
Watch above via NBC.
