Senator John Thune, one of the main allies of Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell, said those who intend to punish senators who voted to condemn former President Donald Trump in his impeachment trial are engaging in the “culture of cancellation “.
“There was a strong case made,” Thune told the Associated Press of the House’s impeachment administrators’ arguments. “People can come to different conclusions. If we are going to criticize the media and the left for canceling the culture, we cannot do that ourselves.”
The statement by Thune, RS.D., the minority leader in the Senate, is one of the most important comments about the Republican Party’s internal division in the Senate since Trump issued a blunt and extremely personal statement criticizing McConnell, R-Ky., Earlier this week. The former president called McConnell “a severe, taciturn and serious political hack” and said “if Republican senators stay with him, they will not win again”. McConnell did not respond.
Thune’s interview also occurs when state and local Republican parties across the country act against their senators who voted to condemn Trump.
Senator John Thune, RS.D., speaks during a hybrid hearing of the Senate Transport Subcommittee about transporting a coronavirus vaccine to the Capitol, Thursday, December 10, 2020, in Washington. (Samuel Corum / The New York Times via AP, Pool)
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The Republican Party of North Carolina censored Senator Richard Burr, RN.C., who was one of the senators who voted for the conviction.
“The NCGOP agrees with the vast majority of Republicans in the House of Representatives and the US Senate that the Democratic-led attempt to impeach a former president is outside the United States Constitution,” the state party said in a statement in the Monday night.
Meanwhile, Senator Pat Toomey, R-Pa., Also faces potential censorship in his home state. And the local parties have already moved against the senator. The Westmoreland County Republican Party censored Toomey, according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, while the Washington County Republican Party did the same, according to KDKA.
“We didn’t send him there to vote his conscience. We didn’t send him there to do the right thing or whatever he said he was doing,” Washington County Republican Party President Dave Ball told KDKA. “We sent him there to represent us.”
The senators who voted to condemn Trump maintained their actions, and Burr directly addressed censorship in a statement.
Senator Richard Burr, RN.C., walks on Capitol Hill as the Senate continues a rare weekend session for final arguments in ex-President Donald Trump’s second impeachment trial at the Capitol in Washington, Saturday, February 13 2021. (AP Photo / J. Scott Applewhite)
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“It’s really a sad day for Republicans in North Carolina,” said Burr. “My party leadership chose loyalty to a man over the fundamental principles of the Republican Party and the founders of our great nation.”
Trump in his long statement this week also said, “[w]here, necessary and appropriate, I will support primary rivals who advocate Making America Great Again and our America’s policy first. “
Thune reacted on Thursday, warning that if Republicans present many candidates aligned with the former president, they may end up sacrificing seats that can be won. Many Republicans are still upset after Tea Party-backed candidates won elections during former President Barack Obama’s first term, only to lose what some thought would be seats in the general election.
“At the grassroots level, there are a lot of people who want to see candidates like Trump,” said Thune. “But I think we are going to look for candidates who are elected.”
Thune added that he will help Republican Party candidates “who don’t go out and talk about conspiracies and that sort of thing”. He also praised Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., Who voted for Trump’s impeachment in the House, drawing the ire of the Republican Party’s pro-Trump wing and promises of a difficult primary in 2022.
Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., Speaks to reporters after voting in the 2020 general election at the Kentucky Exhibition Center in Louisville, Ky., Thursday, October 15, 2020. (AP Photo / Timothy D. Easley)
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If Trump delivers on his promise to support the primaries to Republicans who were not loyal enough to him, Thune will likely be one of the first on the list. Trump last year publicly suggested that South Dakota pro-Trump governor Kristi Noem should run for a primary against Thune, but she declined. Trump also called Thune “Mitch’s boy” and “RINO”.
A source close to the former president told Fox News that his caustic statement against McConnell was inspired by an opinion piece by McConnell in the Wall Street Journal earlier this week. In it, McConnell said that the votes of Senate Republicans – including votes from him and Thune – to absolve Trump of the impeachment charge of inciting an insurrection were not a reflection of the merits of the case, but of the fact that the Senate has no jurisdiction now that Trump is a private citizen.
“January 6 was a shameful day. A crowd bloodied the police and besieged the first branch of the government. American citizens tried to use terrorism to prevent a democratic process they did not like,” said McConnell.
“There is no doubt that former President Trump has moral responsibility. His supporters have invaded the Capitol because of the unbalanced falsehoods he shouted into the world’s largest megaphone,” he added. “His behavior during and after the chaos was also unfair, from attacking Vice President Mike Pence during the rebellion to praising the criminals after it ended.”
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Thune echoed those comments to the Associated Press. He said that Trump’s actions after the presidential election, including falsely claiming for months that he had won before bringing a crowd of his supporters to DC, and telling them to go to Capitol Hill, were “unforgivable”. Thune added that Trump undermined a peaceful transfer of power.
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks to supporters of The Ellipse, near the White House, on January 6, 2021, in Washington, DC.
((Photo by Brendan Smialowski / AFP via Getty Images))
Bad feelings within the Republican Party in the Senate – with McConnell blaming Trump for the loss of the majority of the party and Trump blaming McConnell for the same – are increasing concern among some of its members. Senator Lindsey Graham, RS.C., said, “I don’t want to eat our own” and said “[w]and we should take that down “in an appearance on” Hannity “earlier this week.
And Senator Rick Scott, R-Fla., Who is the new chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) and charged with leading the party’s 2022 electoral efforts, is seeking unity in the party, according to a source.
“President Scott’s goal is to win back the Senate, and the only way to do that is with everyone working together,” a source with knowledge of the senator’s thought told Fox News. “And that includes leader McConnell and Trump. That’s where Scott’s focus is.”
Scott told Fox News last month that the NRSC “clearly will support the incumbents” and the NRSC earlier this week confirmed that Scott’s stance has not changed.
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This could put the NRSC in a difficult spot in the races that Trump is running in a campaign of having to spend resources during the primaries and essentially against the former president who is still widely adored by the Republican Party base.
Scott will also have to deal with potentially reluctant donors before 2022, as The Hill reported on Thursday that some Republican Party strategists and mega-donors say that high dollar donations can be sidelined “until the Republicans come together.”
Scott is scheduled to speak at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Orlando, Florida, next week, where the GOP will spend four days with the goal of defining what their future will look like in a post-Trump world. Scott’s comments are likely to be watched closely as he is pushed into the role of mediator in an emerging Republican Party civil war.
Paul Steinhauser, Evie Fordham and the Fox News Associated Press contributed to this report.