In one short clip in a segment, Republican Senator Bill Cassidy excoriated Florida Gov. DeSantis specifically and his Party in a very coded manner.
Republican Senator Bill Cassidy slams GOP governor & his Party
Republican Senator Bill Cassidy went where most Republicans would not as he made sensible statements about mitigating the pandemic. It is huge because he gives space for sensible, vaccine-hesitant, non-Trump cultists Republicans a place to land.
Dana Bash asked the Senator if he agreed with his Louisiana Governor John Bell Edwards to institute a mask mandate. He went around in circles but ultimately agreed.
Bash pointed out that Governor Ron DeSantis of Florida and other Republican governors did not support mask mandates. Cassidy said that he disagrees with DeSantis.
Dana also pointed out that several governors are taking away local control from politicians attempting to mitigate the pandemic locally. He vehemently disagreed with that. He said that was not a conservative position.
In effect, the Republican Senator,
- Agreed with his Democratic Governor on mandates.
- Disagreed directly with Republican Rock Star Governor DeSantis and others following Florida’s governor’s path.
- He called out his party for not abiding by “Conservative” principles of local control.
- Gave a science-based analysis of how to mitigate the pandemic.
Just imagine if more Republicans, including Cassidy himself, had come out this assertively at the beginning of the pandemic instead of playing sly politics. When asked if DeSantis was playing politics, he had a prescient statement that all politicians should heed, which he should have heeded himself.
“Whenever politicians mess with public health, usually it does not work out for public health,” Cassidy said. “And ultimately, it does not work out for the politician. Because public health suffers and the American people want public health.”