Sen. Bill Cassidy is not without political idiosyncrasies. On the one hand, the Louisiana Republican is a conservative red-state lawmaker broadly in line with his party’s orthodoxy. On the other hand, the senator seems to have a problem with Donald Trump.

In 2018, for example, while Trump was in office, the Louisianan suggested publicly that the then-president might’ve have engaged in criminal misconduct as part of the Stormy Daniels scandal. A couple of years later, Cassidy was one of seven Senate Republicans to vote to convict Trump as part of his second impeachment trial.

The senator was soon after formally censured by the Louisiana Republican Party, and the former president started attacking “Wacky Bill” as a “RINO,” but Cassidy seemed to stick to his guns. In October 2021, he appeared on “Axios on HBO” and said he thought GOP voters might balk at Trump’s 2024 candidacy because of his electoral failures. When Axios’ Mike Allen said it sounded as if Cassidy isn’t planning to vote for the former president, the GOP senator replied, “I’m not.”

The first part of the Louisianan’s assessment now appears flawed — Trump is currently dominating the party’s 2024 field — and the second part has become far more nuanced. NBC News reported:

Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., said Sunday that he thinks Donald Trump should drop out of the 2024 presidential election as the former president faces criminal charges from four indictments. “I think so,” Cassidy said when he was asked in an interview on CNN’s “State of the Union” whether he thinks Trump should drop out.

At face value, it’s certainly notable when a sitting Republican senator tells a national television audience that the frontrunner of his party’s presidential nomination should quit the race. But in this case, it’s also worth dwelling on the details — because the senator’s position included some fine print.

Cassidy didn’t raise concerns about Trump’s corruption, alleged crimes, dishonesty, or incompetence. Rather, the senator said the former president should end his candidacy because he believes Trump “will lose to Joe Biden.” Cassidy went on to complain that, as far as he’s concerned, Trump isn’t far enough to the right on Social Security.

But as part of the same interview, CNN’s Kasie Hunt asked the senator whether he’s prepared to support his party’s ticket if Trump ultimately wins the Republican nomination. “I’m going to vote for a Republican,” Cassidy replied.

Or put another way, the candidate who the senator thinks should quit — the candidate Cassidy voted to convict in an impeachment trial — is the same candidate the senator is prepared to vote for in the 2024 election.

Cassidy suggested yesterday that he believes Trump might very well prove to be a felon — the senator said the indictment in the classified documents case looked to him like “a slam dunk“ — but that apparently won’t stop the senator from voting for the former president anyway.

For all intents and purposes, it’s this position that effectively negates the rest of his position. Indeed, we’ve seen this dynamic before: As recently as May, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said he, too, is committed to supporting his party’s nominee, even if it’s Trump. The Kentucky Republican took this position even after the former president went after his own wife with racist taunts.

Is it interesting when statewide GOP officeholders balk at Trump’s candidacy? Yes. Are the criticisms still credible when those same Republicans say they’re prepared to vote for Trump anyway? No.