This would be infuriating, but things like this happen with such regularity that it’s hard to maintain the proper amount of fury at Cassidy for his neverending betrayals.

What was it this time? Defecating on our military personnel who chose to exercise some bodily autonomy and refused to take a needless, useless and quite risky vaccine.

Four Republican senators joined Democrats in shooting down an amendment to a massive defense authorization package that would have reinstated troops discharged for refusing to take the COVID-19 vaccine.

The 2023 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) passed the Senate 83-11 Thursday night, and along with it a provision overturning the Biden administration’s service-wide vaccine requirement. Republican Senators Mitt Romney of Utah, Susan Collins of Maine, Bill Cassidy of Louisiana and Mike Rounds of South Dakota voted no on a last-minute amendment to the bill re-enlisting thousands of troops separated for refusing the vaccine mandate, collapsing the proposal 54 to 40.

“These were direct orders from commanding officers,” Cassidy said in a statement to the Daily Caller News Foundation, referring to Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, who announced the vaccine mandate. “I voted to end the COVID vaccine mandate in the military, but it is not Congress’s place to intervene in the chain of command and set a precedent for military personnel to ignore direct orders.”

We’re even more irritated by his stupid attempt at logic to defend this craven, swampy vote than we are with the vote itself. Cassidy could have voted with the rest of the GOP caucus and the Senate would still have screwed over the 8,400 or so soldiers, sailors, marines and airmen who got bounced out of the armed services for refusing to take the jab.

But voting to screw them because they didn’t follow orders?

He would have made a hell of a Nazi, wouldn’t he?

Austin’s order that all of the military had to take the jab was unjustified and unjustifiable. Everybody saw that at the time. Refusing the vaccine mandate has been upheld multiple times in courts all over the country, and while, yes, the military is different than other government service there is no persuasive argument for why this specific case has to be treated that way.

And by now, Bill Cassidy ought to know that when 40 of his Republican colleagues are voting a certain way, he’s a lot better off joining them than bucking them.

When you’re in a tiny little group of dissenters that includes Romney and Collins, Bill, that means you’re doing it wrong.

It’s so awful that Louisiana has a Democrat governor right now. We can’t call for Cassidy’s resignation on the basis that he outright lied to the people of this state when he ran for re-election to the Senate as the Trumpiest Trump who ever Trumped. Were Cassidy to resign John Bel Edwards might very well appoint himself to Cassidy’s seat and run for re-election as an incumbent, with Billy Nungesser then moving up to governor and running as an incumbent. That would make the 2023 election cycle into something of a political Ragnarok in Louisiana, which might not actually be the worst thing in the world – but it sure as hell would make for some unpleasantness in the meantime.

So Cassidy has to stay where he is until there’s a Republican governor who could choose his replacement.

But if ever there was somebody who had stuck a knife in the backs of a state’s voters it is Bill Cassidy. And this latest betrayal, of our armed forces personnel who chose to risk a bad cold instead of myocarditis, is too irritating to leave unaddressed. Maybe people should send Cassidy lumps of coal for Christmas as a show of our appreciation for his behavior.