My motto in work and in life is that when you exit, however you exit, leave with grace. And as much as it is in your power, leave the place better off than when you came.
Journalist Ellen Goodman wrote:
There’s a trick to the 'graceful exit.' It begins with the vision to recognize when a job, a life stage, or a relationship is over — and let it go. It means leaving what’s over without denying its validity or its past importance to our lives. It involves a sense of future, a belief that every exit line is an entry, that we are moving up, rather than out.
It is clear that Sens. John Cornyn (R-TX), Thom Tillis (R-NC), Bill Cassidy (R-LA), and Republican Rep. Thomas Massie (KY-04) never read Goodman, and it might do them some good if they did. Each of these elected officials is exiting their offices at the end of this year, but they are doing so in the most inglorious of fashions. It appears they do not give one whit about their reputations, relationships, or the Republican Party that they claimed allegiance to for decades.
Three members of the Failed Four are still pouting over their voters roundly rejecting them in their respective state primaries. Cornyn never made it to 50 percent in the March Texas primary, and then suffered the indignity of losing by 30 points in the May runoff against TX Attorney General Ken Paxton, the candidate who President Donald Trump endorsed over Cornyn. Cassidy also did not get Trump's coveted endorsement, and was primaried in May Louisiana primary by Rep. Julia Letlow (LA-05), who did get that endorsement. Massie truly screwed the pooch with the Epstein files shenanigans. His deeply red district had had enough, so, in the May Kentucky primary, they chose the Trump-backed Ed Gallrein over him. Massie continues to blame his woes on Trump and Israel, rather than the fact that he was failing his constituents.
Tillis is the outlier. Always a closet Never Trumper, after Trump won in 2024, he became more vociferous against the administration, refused to back several pivotal bills, and made negative noises over key cabinet appointments. Tillis saw the handwriting on the wall and recognized that he was outnumbered and outgunned. He preemptively struck and chose not to seek reelection. Now Tillis is fully freed to show his true colors, gumming up the works wherever he can. Like when he and Cornyn played obstructionists over then-Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche's nomination.
On Thursday, Tillis decided to back Thomas Massie's play. On Wednesday, Massie filed articles of impeachment against Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, and Tillis bloviated to the press about how this would be a good thing.
WATCH:
Republican Senator Thom Tillis calls for the removal of Pete Hegseth.
— Donk Media ♻️™ (@donkoclock) September 17, 2026
"He needs to go. Whether it's impeachment or the most expedient route is just the president replace him" pic.twitter.com/ijYcee6zQx
Now that House Speaker Mike Johnson (LA-04) chose to recess ahead of the midterms, neither Massie or Tillis will get a chance to cast any vote on that matter. But that doesn't matter. Both are happy to be chaos actors against anything that represents sound governance.
Cornyn has probably made himself the biggest horse's patootie. These days he uses his X feed to look down his nose at the voters that rejected him, and cast shade on the MAGA and the GOP candidates he deems unworthy of his party.
Case in point: Bo French is the Republican candidate running for Texas Railroad Commissioner. French posted on X, decrying the Indian representation at a University of Texas Longhorns game. It made many people do a double take and has been a source of debate for days now. But Cornyn and his GOP-E cohorts in particular were aghast, deeming French's post as racist and demanding he delete it and apologize. French essentially told them all to go pound sand, doubled his fundraising, and increased his speaking engagements. The lesson here: never give in to the outrage mob.
So, Cornyn, who has advocated (and some allege taken money) for the mass migration of Indians to the state of Texas, was none too pleased that his imagined influence has proven to be defunct. Cornyn has been spending his time reposting the op-ed of hackneyed pundit Karl Rove, where Rove vowed he would vote for French's Democrat challenger.
This is our shocked face.
Cornyn now alleges he might do the same, claiming that it's a good place to start cleaning out the GOP stable.
”The GOP’s stables need a cleaning. This is a good place to start.“ https://t.co/jPkzC2pOrF
— Senator John Cornyn (@JohnCornyn) September 16, 2026
News: Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) tells me he won't vote for fellow Texas Republican Bo French, statewide candidate for railroad commissioner, following racist post.
— Ramsey Touchberry (@ramsberry1) September 17, 2026
"He's an embarrassment to the Republican Party, and he's going to drag the whole ticket down because of his racist…
Primarying Cornyn and his ilk was the good start. He has no clue that he is the embarrassment to the party. His old guard version of the Republican Party has been pushed to the margins, and MAGA voters are more than ready to push it over a cliff.
Cassidy has made the pretense of being okay with his shellacking, but in committee hearings, particularly on the Senate HELP committee which he chairs, He has been low-key petty. Cassidy used the confirmation hearing for Trump's Surgeon General nominee Nicole Saphier to pontificate about vaccine policy and the terrible legacy HHS and the Trump administration will leave behind because of the changes it enacted to the childhood vaccine schedule.
Cassidy has also not bothered to campaign for or endorse Julia Letlow, the person who will win his seat in November.
Shreveport Times: Bill Cassidy Won’t Endorse Julia Letlow
— Politics & Poll Tracker 📡 (@PollTracker2024) September 16, 2026
Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA) said he won’t endorse Congresswoman Julia Letlow in her Senate campaign, but predicted that she will easily win the Nov. 3 election to replace him.
Cassidy: “She hasn’t asked me for my…
Shreveport Times: Bill Cassidy Won’t Endorse Julia Letlow
Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA) said he won’t endorse Congresswoman Julia Letlow in her Senate campaign, but predicted that she will easily win the Nov. 3 election to replace him.
Cassidy: “She hasn’t asked me for my endorsement. She doesn’t need my endorsement. She has President Trump’s endorsement, and that what matters in our state.”
Darn straight she doesn't need it or him. Still, these are the moves of a small man.
But Massie, well he wins the small-man disease prize with a surprise submission of articles of impeachment against SecWar Hegseth. Articles that even his Democrat colleagues, who slather to impeach anyone in the Trump administration just because, do not take seriously.
Democrat Rep. Josh Gottheimer (NJ-05), who vociferously spoke out against the MI senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed, flat out said to a CNN host that Massie was "not a serious person," and that Massie told several members that he just wanted to "burn it all down" on his way out the door.
That tracks.
WATCH:
While these Failed Four play political theater over issues that matter little, important legislation like the Clarity Act and the SAVE America Act continue to languish. America is fortunate that there are very few legislative days left for them to muck around, and that come January 2027, they can go and sit pretty on their corporate boards and take globalist speaking engagements. Each of them could have departed as statesmen, instead they will forever be seen as petulant children who will still be rotting in their bitterness long after President Trump has departed the office.
