S6 Ep40: Tim Miller: Good Riddance, Bill Cassidy?
The Focus Group Podcast
The Bulwark
4.8 • 2.6K Ratings
🗓️ 9 May 2026
⏱️ 54 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
This week's show has a rare note of agreement with our MAGA focus group participants. In Louisiana, Bill Cassidy is running for re-election to the Senate, and trying to pass himself as a MAGA true believer, even though after January 6 he voted to bar Donald Trump from office forever. Our Republican focus groups know he's full of it, and so does Tim Miller who joins the show this week.
Tim and Sarah also discuss Republican voters' recent Strange New Respect for Marco Rubio, JD Vance's falling stock, and whether Republicans have an appetite for a future Donald Trump, Jr. candidacy.
Tickets for our Bulwark Live shows in San Diego and Los Angeles in May: https://thebulwark.com/events
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | They like Marco because he's bilingual because he's calm because he's level-headed because he's strong character. |
| 0:08.6 | They think JD is too aggressive. |
| 0:11.0 | It's like, I'll be voted for Trump three times. |
| 0:14.2 | Trump has terrible character. |
| 0:15.8 | He's not calm. |
| 0:16.7 | He's not level-headed. |
| 0:17.5 | He doesn't want him in fences. |
| 0:18.7 | He can barely speak one language. |
| 0:24.3 | Hello, everyone, and welcome to the Focus Group podcast. |
| 0:27.2 | I'm Sarah Longwell, publisher of the bulwark. |
| 0:29.7 | And this week, we're going to Louisiana, which in all of my years of doing focus groups, |
| 0:34.5 | I have never done to cover an election. |
| 0:37.4 | So I start now. Well, |
| 0:39.4 | because Senator Cassidy is really on the ropes as he runs for re-election. You may remember him |
| 0:45.5 | as one of the seven Republican senators who voted to convict Donald Trump after January 6th. |
| 0:50.6 | Good for him. I was a big Cassidy stand in the wake of that because that meant he wanted to |
| 0:57.2 | bar Trump from ever holding office again. Unfortunately, after Trump won his reelection in 2024, |
| 1:05.5 | Cassidy has been now a force for sort of rubber stamping a lot of Trump's worst impulses, not the least of which |
| 1:12.2 | was giving Robert F. Kennedy Jr. the key vote he needed to become HHS secretary in which was a |
| 1:18.8 | pretty obvious self-serving tactic to try to get back on MAGA's good side, but does not |
| 1:24.8 | look like it's worked. Sadly for Cassidy, Republicans in Louisiana have a very |
| 1:30.0 | long memory about his impeachment vote, and he may finish third in this primary getting locked |
... |
Transcript will be available on the free plan in 1 days. Upgrade to see the full transcript now.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from The Bulwark, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of The Bulwark and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.