Cowards Curtain Call

2026-05-21 2 min read Politics Sterling Hammer

One of the most predictable and frustrating aspects of politics is when a politician suddenly discovers a conscience when they are no longer up for reelection. The most recent example of this is Senator Bill Cassidy, who lost a primary in his home state of Louisiana.

Senator Cassidy, who is a doctor, voted for anti-vaccine advocate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to lead HHS after being pressured by other Republicans. But his cardinal mistake was voting to impeach Donald Trump, and as a result, he’s now looking for work.

And this week what did Cassidy do? He voted to advance a resolution to end the Iran War. He flipped.

And this isn’t unique, it’s happened several times during the Trump era.

Thom Tillis voted against Donald Trump’s “big beautiful bill” but then a day later he announced he wasn’t running for reelection.

Jeff Flake announced his retirement in 2017 then proceeded to vote against his party. He voted against judicial nominees and broke with the party on a number of votes.

“I wonder — could you have done this if you were running for re-election?" Pelley asked.
“Not a chance," Flake responded.

Politics in this country are fundamentally broken. If an elected official feels like they can’t vote their conscience, or more importantly what their constituents are asking for - then what is the point?

In today’s Republican Party, there’s no room for anything but blind loyalty to President Trump. The current Congress has abdicated its role in government, leaving no room for anything but fealty to the executive branch.

We need look no further than Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema for a lesson in how this should work. Was it frustrating watching them throw a wrench in the entire Democratic agenda? Of course it was.

Or even John McCain who famously saved the Affordable Care Act largely because he opposed the way that Republicans went about it - without any input from Democrats.

Holding a public office is not meant to be a lifetime career. Elected officials should vote in a way that supports their constituents and concience. that means they lose an election, then so be it. We the people in the United States should be deciding who we want to serve us in higher office, if they fail us - they should be fired. Blind party loyalty hurts our democracy.