‘The great people curse him’: Trump slams senator who said ageing politicians like him should take senility test
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Former President Donald Trump has lashed out at a senator who recently criticised him and raised concerns about older politicians getting “senile”.
“Wacky Bill Cassidy can’t walk down the street in Louisiana, a State [sic] I won by almost 20 points,” Mr Trump said in a statement. “He could not even be elected dog catcher today, the great people curse him.”
Senator Cassidy, a Republican who represents Louisiana, told Axios on HBO on Monday that he favored annual tests for elderly political figures — including members of Congress, Supreme Court justices, and presidents — to make sure they’re still cognitively sharp.
“Anybody in a position of responsibility who may potentially be on that slope, that is of concern,” Mr Cassidy, who is also a gastroenterologist, told the news site. “And I’m saying this as a doctor."
The comments did not explicitly target Mr Trump, who is 75, and could just as easily apply to Democratic figures like President Joe Biden, 78, or House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, 81.
Elsewhere in the interview, however, Mr Cassidy took direct aim at Mr Trump.
“President Trump is the first president, on the Republican side at least, to lose the House, the Senate, and the presidency in four years,” Mr Cassidy said. “Elections are about winning.”
(While it is true that Mr Trump lost all three levers of power, he was not the first Republican to do so. Herbert Hoover lost reelection and both houses of Congress in 1932.)
When asked about the 2024 GOP presidential nomination, the senator said Mr Trump could potentially run for it and lose.
“Well, if you want to win the presidency, and hopefully that’s what voters are thinking about, I think he might,” Mr Cassidy said.
The comments clearly rubbed Mr Trump the wrong way.
“Wacky Senator Bill Cassidy from Louisiana is a RINO Republican who begged for my endorsement in 2020 and used it all over the place to win re-election, much like Little Ben Sasse, and then voted to impeach your favourite president,” the former president wrote.
Senator Cassidy was one of seven Republican senators who voted to convict Mr Trump during his second impeachment, which was held after Mr Trump egged on a crowd of supporters who then stormed the US Capitol.
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