Republicans Might Finally Consider Their Legacy

Losing loyalists could use their remaining time in office to do the right thing

Rep. Buddy Carter (GA), placed third in last night’s Georgia Senate race primary

Representative Earl “Buddy” Carter, a Trump acolyte, gave up his secure House seat to run for the Georgia Senate seat. Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX), who faces a runoff against MAGA wackadoodle and Texas attorney general Ken Paxton, may join him in the ranks of the unemployed — an outcome that became increasingly likely yesterday, after the scandal-ridden Paxton received Trump’s late endorsement — along with Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA), who finished a humiliating third in his primary. (In backing Rep. Julia Letlow, Donald Trump exacted revenge for Cassidy’s vote to impeach for the violent Jan. 6 insurrection.)

A batch of vulnerable incumbent House (e.g., Mike Lawler of New York, Jen Kiggins of Virginia) and Senate Republicans (e.g., Susan Collins of Maine, Dan Sullivan of Alaska, Jon Husted of Ohio) may find that they, too — despite genuflecting to Donald Trump, ignoring their constitutional obligations, subjecting their constituents to untold hardship, and abandoning all common sense and decency — have nothing to show for their servility.

Some Republicans headed for defeat either in the primary or general election may have convinced themselves that they were serving the public good in slashing taxes for the rich while cutting healthcare for everyone else; tolerating an illegal, utterly counterproductive war; or letting abusive, lawless ICE agent go after hard working immigrants. (But not even such self-rationalizers, I suspect, can justify their record of turning a blind eye to Trump’s jaw-dropping corruption, persecution of political enemies, self-indulgent monuments, and the rest of the authoritarian excess funded by the taxpayers.)

Texas Senator John Cornyn, who failed to gain Trump’s endorsement, faces a run-off against attorney general Ken Paxton next week (Credit: Gage Skidmore)

However, for some lawmakers such as Cornyn (a previously establishment Republican who favored fiscal sobriety and getting tough on Russia) and Cassidy (a moderate, who backed the Biden’s bipartisan infrastructure bill, and this week voted to advance a war powers resolution), one can surmise that they knew much of what they were voting for (or refusing to vote against) violated principles they once espoused and/or ran afoul of the Constitution. One need only look at their pre-Trump careers and efforts to evade rather than justify Trump’s actions to conclude they knew he was a menace to the country and to our democracy.

The less cultist senators — especially Cassidy in his reprehensible vote to confirm RFK, Jr. (who has promulgated vaccine skepticism and other dangerous quackery) — surely grasped that the nominees they voted to confirm for Cabinet posts (e.g. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Attorney General Pam Bondi, Kash Patel) were unfit and unprepared to hold powerful, critical jobs that require life or death decision-making. Do Cassidy, Cornyn, and others who may lose despite their self-debasement think it was worthwhile? Do they imagine they will be remembered for anything other than their cowardice and capitulation when America was most at risk?

In countenancing or actively promoting the devastation of USAID, evisceration of medical research and our national health system, savage cuts to Medicaid, extra-judicial killings, and an utterly unnecessary war, they have shared responsibility for the deaths of thousands of people (in the case of USAID, hundreds of thousands). They bear blame, as well, for the trauma and torture inflicted on deported immigrants, the breakup of immigrant families, the senseless deaths of Alex Pretti and Renee Good, and the hunger experienced by seniors and children cut off from food assistance — none of which they lifted a finger to prevent, despite knowing the likely consequences of Trump’s cruel agenda. And, to the extent they once mouthed platitudes about the rule of law, they too played a role in the weaponization and corruption of the Department of Justice.

We may never know, absent death-bed confessions, what regrets they may have. But at least for those who wash out in the primaries there is time, if not to atone, then at least to curtail the death, suffering, and hardship they will leave in their wake.

Republican losers in primaries do have a choice between now and January. (Even the general election losers have time in the lame duck session). They might sit down with Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), who has undergone a partial liberation for Trump sycophancy after his decision not to run for re-election, although his refusal to vote for the War Powers Act or rein in ICE (let alone Trump’s corruption) hardly make him a profile in courage.

Cassidy and, if defeated, Cornyn might enter a pact with Tillis (along with libertarian Sen. Rand Paul on some issues) to ameliorate the worst of the harm the Republican senators have enabled. They could actually promote once dearly-held conservative principles to claw back the tariff power, pass the War Powers Act (as Cassidy has now proven he is prepared to support), short-circuit Trump’s ballroom and other gross monuments to himself, insist that aid to Ukraine and defense sales to Taiwan proceed, put the kibosh on the Trump clan’s disgusting corruption, and block confirmation of acting attorney general Todd Blanche — should he get nominated for the permanent job.

They could, in short, for just a few months live up to their oaths of office, rein in a tyrannical president, try to arrest America’s international decline, and end the orgy of ethics violations they have allowed to multiply. At the very least, they could stop pretending not to have seen Trump latest racist, insane babbling on Truth Social or witnessed his vile threats against critics who engage in activity protected by the First Amendment. (By the way, it would make for some handwringing, foot shuffling and brow furrowing for incumbents like Sullivan and “concerned” Collins, if their occasional CYA votes against Trump had the potential to carry the day with votes from other Republican defectors.)

We should not get our hopes up. To reverse course so dramatically would confirm their critics’ worst accusation, namely, that for the sake of preserving their own careers they refused to abide by the Constitution and work on behalf of what they knew were the interests of the country and their constituents. But on the theory that “the time is always right to do right,” they might try voting their conscious a try.

If nothing else, Carter’s and Cassidy’s political demise (and Cornyn’s potential defeat) should prompt a tiny bit of reflection among Republicans (whether facing defeat or retiring) who have gone along with Trump’s noxious agenda to get along. If they don’t even get to keep their jobs, were their final years in public life worth it? If they conclude they needlessly sold their souls, they might share their confession with voters, especially those who might reflect on the damage their votes for Trump have inflicted on others.