I’m wondering if Thad was more “used” in this scheme than an initiator of the perfidy.
He’s a teat on the cash cow, in other words.
Thad is the weekend at Bernie’s candidate. He is being propped up and carted around by the Mississippi mafia. You are right. They are basically keeping him alive (politically) to keep the cash rolling into Mississippi.
I don't think Thad even knows what day it is. The poor demented soul is just a warm seat for the GOPe Senate. I'm sure McConnell has assigned handlers who tell him how to vote. I would even go so far to say they know he won't make it to the end of his next term, so the machine can hand-pick their next malleable candidate.