Some Republicans are expressing frustration with their party for censoring Republican senators who voted to condemn former President Donald Trump during his second impeachment trial.
Last weekend, seven Republican senators joined all Democrats to plead guilty to inciting an uprising against the United States Capitol on January 6. They were Susan Collins of Maine, Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania, Mitt Romney of Utah, Richard Burr of North Carolina, Ben Sasse of Nebraska and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska.
Each senator has since defended his decision by declaring that his vote was constitutional and based on significant evidence, but the impact of the break with the Republican Party was severe.
Five of these seven lawmakers – all but Collins and Romney – faced local censorship, or formal rebuke, from Republican groups in the states they represent. Republican officials have condemned Republican senators, saying the decision to condemn was not representative of the party.
Other Republicans, however, criticized the party for participating in the “cancellation of culture” and for being intolerant of differing opinions.
Republican Senator John Thune, who voted for Trump’s absolution, defended his colleagues who sided with Democrats and warned the party against silencing dissenting voices.
“A strong case has been made. People can come to different conclusions. If we are going to criticize the media and the left to cancel the culture, we cannot do it ourselves,” said Thune, the second Senate Republican, told the Associated Press.
Likewise, Quin Hillyer, a former Louisiana Republican Youth leader who writes comments for the Washington Examiner, criticized the party for discouraging opposing views.
“It is extremely frustrating for me to see both sides of politics today acting as if no dissent is allowed; to act as if anyone who deviates from any issue should immediately be silenced, canceled or, in this case, censored,” Hillyer said to Fox 8 News.
He added: “If we start to make each vote a litmus test, ‘A’ we won’t get anywhere, but ‘B’ we will fall in line with the extremist societies where you purge, after purge, after purge and not just nothing is done, but it becomes very dangerous and very unstable. “

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In Utah, Republican Senator Mike Lee, who voted for Trump’s acquittal, released a statement saying that Romney’s decision to convict “was not a cause for alarm.”
“The fact that Senator Romney and I sometimes disagree (either with each other or with most Senate Republicans, or both) is not in itself a cause for alarm,” said Lee. “On the contrary, it shows that neither of us blindly postpone to anyone. Each of us does our own homework and, after conferring with our colleagues on both sides of the corridor and with each other, we come to our own conclusions. “
The Republican Party of Utah echoed that statement, saying that the senators’ choice to condemn represented “diversity of thinking”.
Illinois Republican Congressman Adam Kinzinger, who was censored for voting for Trump’s impeachment in the House of Representatives, accessed Twitter to scoff at the party’s decision to punish dissident voices, dubbing him “censorship frenzy. “
“Good party, good party #censurefrenzy !!” he sarcastically tweeted on Saturday.
Newsweek he reached out to representatives of each of the seven senators who voted to condemn Trump, but had no news in time for publication.