“Politics isn’t about one guy’s weird worship,” Sasse said. The party can purge Trump skeptics. But I’d like to convince you that not only is that civilian cancer for the nation, it’s just awful for our party. “
A handful of big-name Republicans have faced outrage from their home state in the wake of Trump’s impeachment. The Arizona Republican Party voted to disapprove Cindy McCain, widow of Senator John McCain and former Senator Jeff Flake after both criticized Trump. Rep. Liz Cheney, the No. 3 Republican in the House, has facing backlash in Wyoming after voting to impeach Trump for instigating the Capitol riots, and Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) even went to her home state to campaign against her for an audience of more than 800 people.
In his video statement, Sasse set himself up as a loyal conservative, distinguishing between his constituents and members of the state’s Central Committee. He said that very few Nebraska voters are “as angry with life as some people on this committee.”
“Political addicts don’t represent most of Nebraska conservatives,” Sasse said.
The senator added that his criticism of Trump after the riots was consistent with his previous actions against Trump, including refusing to vote for him in 2016 and 2020. He also said the party’s anger against him was not about his ideology. went, and noted that he is. one of the most conservative members of the Senate. Instead, he said, his party was dissatisfied with not “bending the knee” to Trump.
Sasse also used the video to reiterate his disdain for Trump’s behavior between election day and his departure from office, when Trump continued to spread false claims that the election had been stolen from him. Sasse said the uprising at the Capitol “ happened because the president lied to you ” and because Trump “ raised a crowd that attacked the Capitol – many shouted ‘hang pence.’
“If that president was a Democrat, we both know how you’d respond,” Sasse said. “But because he had Republican to his name, you defend him.”
The motion of censure isn’t the only one facing Sasse in the state. The Scotts Bluff County GOP said on Wednesday that it was going to disapprove Sasse, and wrote an open letter disapproving the senator after his members were unable to contact him, according to The Scotts Bluff Star Herald.
Scotts Bluff County Party Chairman Kolene Woodward told Star Herald, “We’re terribly frustrated that he’s just ignoring us, so we thought if we posted an open letter, maybe someone on his staff would read it and get him let them know. we have tabled a resolution for our provincial-level central committee meeting this weekend to condemn him. “