- Republican Senator Ben Sasse severely criticized his state party amid his plans to censor him.
- The Nebraska GOP is brooding over Sasse’s criticism of Trump’s role in the Capitol riot.
- “Politics is not about a guy’s weird worship,” Sasse said in a video.
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Republican Senator Ben Sasse of Nebraska seemed unperturbed that his state party could blame him after he accused former President Donald Trump of inciting the deadly Capitol riot on January 6.
In a five-minute video addressed to the Central Committee of the State of the Republican Party of Nebraska, Sasse criticized its members as “angry with life”.
“Many of you were cut off because I condemned your lies that led to a riot,” said Sasse on Thursday night. “Let’s be clear: the anger in the state party was never about me violating principles or abandoning conservative politics.”
“The rage has always been just about me not bending my knee to a guy,” he added, referring to Trump.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-jCnUHNeTkg ”
Sasse has been a frequent and vocal critic of Trump throughout his tenure. He hit the ex-president last month after a violent crowd of Trump supporters invaded the Capitol complex, resulting in five deaths. In the aftermath, the two-term senator said Trump “was the one who threw gasoline at the division’s campfires” with his baseless claims that the 2020 presidential election was rigged and subject to electoral fraud.
Sasse added that Republican colleague Josh Hawley of Missouri, who led the challenge to the 2020 Senate election results, is also to blame for the deadly turmoil. Sasse was one of five Republican senators who rejected Republican Sen. Rand Paul’s motion last month to dismiss Trump’s impeachment trial as unconstitutional.
Now, the Republican Party of Nebraska can begin to blame Sasse for its criticism of Trump and his Republican colleagues. Censorship refers to a formal conviction of an elected official. Committee members drafted a resolution with a possible vote on February 13, according to the News Channel Nebraska.
“You can blame me,” said Sasse in the video. “But let’s be clear about why this is happening. It’s because I still believe, as you used to believe, that politics is not about a guy’s weird worship.”
Sasse took office for the first time in 2015 and handily won his re-election campaign in 2020 with more than 67% of the votes. Trump also beat the state, but his margin was smaller, reaching 58%.
Sasse said the reason he had more support in his home state than the former president was because “Nebraskans are not addicted to anger.”
“Personality cults are not conservative. Conspiracy theories are not conservative. Lying that the election was stolen – it is not conservative,” said Sasse.