Sunday shows preview: Trump-Cassidy divisions on display as Louisiana eyes successor

Sunday Talk Shows Sunday shows preview: Trump-Cassidy divisions on display as Louisiana eyes successor by Sophie Brams - 06/27/26 4:39 PM ET Link copied by Sophie Brams - 06/27/26 4:39 PM ET Link copied

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Louisiana Republicans will decide their nominee for Senate on Saturday in a runoff that has become another test of President Trump’s influence over the party.

GOP voters in the Pelican State have already demonstrated their loyalty to Trump, crushing incumbent Sen. Bill Cassidy’s (R-La.) hopes for reelection in the initial primary six weeks ago.

Cassidy failed to advance to the runoff after finishing third in the May 16 primary, leaving Rep. Julia Letlow (R-La.) and state Treasurer John Fleming battling for a spot in the November general election.

Letlow, who entered the race with Trump’s backing, came out on top in the primary with about 45 percent of the vote, according to Decision Desk HQ. Fleming garnered about 28 percent of the vote, with Cassidy trailing behind at just under 25 percent.

None earned enough votes to avoid a runoff, however.

Cassidy’s loss was one of the biggest wins for Trump in the midterm cycle so far, making the second-term senator the first incumbent senator of either party to be defeated in a primary in more than a decade.

The Louisiana Republican had long been a target of the president and his base, stemming from his vote to convict Trump in his second impeachment trail following the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capital. He was one of seven GOP senators to do so and one of only three that still remain in Congress.

Trump has repeatedly attacked Cassidy for that decision over the years and actively encouraged Letlow to jump into the race earlier this year to oust him. He drew a clear line between the senator’s defeat and his impeachment decision after the May primary.

“His disloyalty to the man who got him elected is now a part of a legend, and it’s nice to see that his political career is OVER!” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social at the time.

Cassidy didn’t hold back either, making a pointed swipe at Trump during his concession speech. In the weeks since, he has also become more willing to openly oppose the president on issues such as the Iran war and the creation of a nearly $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization” fund.

“Our country is not about one individual, it is about the welfare of all Americans, and it is about our Constitution, and it is the welfare of my people and my state and my country and our Constitution to which I am loyal,” he said after losing the primary.

Cassidy is set to appear on CBS’s “Face the Nation” on Sunday for what the network describes as a wide-ranging discussion on the Trump administration’s Iran policy, public health and the future of the Republican Party.

Voters on Saturday will now have the chance to hand Trump another victory by sending Letlow to face the Democratic nominee in November.

Letlow won a special election in 2021 to finish out the term of her late husband, Rep.-elect Luke Letolow, who died from COVID-19 complications in December 2020.

She has built her campaign around support for Trump, and the president has returned the favor. He described Letlow as a “fearless champion” during a tele-rally on Thursday, urging his supporters to back her.

But her path to the nomination runs through Fleming, a physician and former congressman who has also campaigned as a loyal Trump supporter and strong conservative.

He represented the state from 2009 to 2017, before serving in Trump’s first administration as assistant secretary of Commerce for Economic Development and as a White House aide.

Whoever wins the Republican nomination is expected to be the favorite in a state that overwhelmingly voted for Trump in the past three presidential elections.

The president is also facing a test of a different kind regarding Iran, as a recent flare-up in the Gulf threatens to upend the fragile interim agreement to end the war.

The U.S. military launched strikes against Iranian missile and drone storage sites and coastal radar locations on Friday in response to an alleged violation of the ceasefire deal.

It came a day after the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps hit a Singapore-flagged cargo ship in the Strait of Hormuz, an attack Trump called “foolish” and U.S. Central Command (Centcom) said “undermined freedom of navigation” in the international trade corridor.

The Strait of Hormuz has remained the epicenter of fighting between the two countries, with both the U.S. and Iran attempting to assert control over the waterway.

Tehran retaliated early Saturday morning with a drone strike on Bahrain, where the U.S. Navy’s Fifth Fleet is located. Ahmed bin Salman Al Musallam, the speaker of Bahrain’s Council of Representatives, condemned the attack as a “flagrant violation” of its sovereignty.

The heightened tension is unfolding against the backdrop of ongoing talks— led on the U.S. side by Vice President JD Vance— to hash out the remaining sticking points in the conflict, including constraints on Iran’s nuclear program.

A round of high-level technical discussions in Switzerland last weekend focused on clarifying Iran’s position on the strait, “mechanisms” to ensure it remains open and a ceasefire holds in southern Lebanon and “robust” conversations on the nuclear issue, a senior U.S. diplomat speaking on the condition of anonymity told The Associated Press.

The signed 14-point memorandum of understanding has been met with mixed reaction on Capitol Hill, where some Republicans made their concerns known in a closed-door meeting with Trump this week.

That included Cassidy, who confronted the president and accused him of not being forthcoming with the American public about the war. The contentious exchange came after Trump voiced his frustration with the Senate for approving a war powers resolution aimed at limiting his ability to wage further military action against Iran.

Vance on Friday defended the administration’s strategy in the peace negotiations, telling comedian Bill Maher that the outcome would be positive for the U.S. regardless of whether a long-term deal is reached.

“If we make the final deal, then great. If we don’t make the deal, their nuclear program is still destroyed. They’re still much weaker as a country,” Vance said.

But Iran is not the only source of tension emerging between Senate Republicans and the president.

Trump reportedly surprised GOP leaders on Wednesday when he announced on Truth Social that he would not sign the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act, a bipartisan housing package that was seen as a win for Republicans in a midterm election cycle focused heavily on affordability.

The president conditioned his signature on the passage of the SAVE America Act, a bill that would require Americans to show photo identification when voting in federal elections and provide proof of U.S. citizenship to register.

The measure, which Trump has claimed as his No. 1 priority, passed the House in February but has stalled in the upper chamber over Democratic opposition.

Meanwhile, a group of hardline House conservatives are vowing to block any procedural action on the floor until Congress acts on the election reform bill, putting House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) in a tough spot.

Johnson will join Fox News’s “Sunday Morning Futures” on Sunday.

While Republicans navigate their own internal divides, Democrats are also seeing some fractures in their party as democratic socialist candidates continue to notch primary victories across the country.

Two Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) candidates backed by New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani (D) won their respective congressional primaries in New York on Tuesday, and the movement has racked up other recent high-profile wins in places like Los Angeles and Washington, D.C.

The successes have signaled a potential leftward shift in direction of the party, which has struggled to find its footing in the wake of former Vice President Kamala Harris’ (D) loss in the 2024 presidential election.

But the movement’s growing influence has not been embraced by everyone, with more moderate Democrats like Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro (D) offering some pushback.

Mamdani is set to join ABC’s Jonathan Karl for an exclusive interview airing Sunday on “This Week.”

“We don’t have to ask ourselves what life looks like if a socialist wins,” the mayor said in a clip of the interview. “I won last November, and over the course of these last six months, what we’ve delivered for working people are the very things we were told weren’t possible.”

See the full list of guests on the Sunday morning news shows below:

NewsNation’s “The Hill Sunday”: Rep. Mark Harris (R-N.C.), Chair of America250 Rosie Rios

Fox News’s “Fox News Sunday”: Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.), Rep. Jake Auchincloss (D-Mass.), Ambassador Monica Crowley

Fox News’s “Sunday Morning Futures”: House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), Rep. Lisa McClain (R-Mich.), Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.)

CNN’s “State of the Union”: Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin, Ohio Gov. Mike Dewine (R), Maryland Gov. Wes Moore (D), Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.), Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.), author Rye Barcott

CBS News’s “Face the Nation”: Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.)

ABC’s “This Week”: Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.), Sen. Todd Young (R-Ind.), NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani(D)

NBC News’s “Meet the Press”: Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), Sen. Roger Marshall (R-Kansas), New York Times correspondents Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan