In the magazine today, I have a profile of Nebraska senator Ben Sasse, who in a very short span, has become a prominent spokesman for constitutional values and unlikely leader of the anti-Trump movement. As I noted in my profile, until a few months ago, very few people had any idea that Ben Sasse was Nebraska’s junior senator.
Well, on Thursday, Sean Hannity got acquainted with Ben Sasse. For some time now, political observers have been raising eyebrows over Fox host Sean Hannity’s relationship with Donald Trump. It’s not just that Hannity seems to give Trump almost limitless amounts of air time, it’s that Hannity is rarely if ever critical of Trump and acts as an attack dog toward his rivals and anyone else critical of Trump.
At the Conservative Political Action Conference, Glenn Beck was chatting with Sean Hannity when the senator spotted Hannity. According to Beck, here’s how it went down:
The brief verbal altercation occurred as Hannity spoke privately with Glenn Beck at TheBlaze’s booth on radio row. Sasse “jetted” over, according to a Blaze contributor who saw the Nebraska senator dart over when he spotted Hannity. “Sean and I are friends,” Beck recounted on his television program. “He said, ‘Hey can I talk to you?’ I said, ‘Sure.’ So we went back … and we were having a conversation about Donald Trump and what is going on, very friendly, when Senator Ben Sasse walked up.” “He came over and he said, ‘Sean Hannity, what you are doing is bull!'” Beck said. “And I have never seen Ben like that.” “He was angry. … And Sean said, ‘Excuse me?’ And he said, ‘What you’re doing is bull!’ And he said, ‘Who are you?’ Which didn’t make things better,” Beck continued. “And he said, ‘I am Senator Ben Sasse.'” “Sean just didn’t recognize him and that happens,” Beck added. “And he said, ‘You can cuss me out all you want.’ And he said, ‘I’m not cussing you out, I’m cussing out your actions.’ He said, ‘You have gone on the air and said because I took what I believe to be a moral position and said I cannot vote for Donald Trump, I will not vote for Donald Trump, you are telling my constituents that I am voting for Hillary Clinton. And I am not voting for Hillary Clinton. And Sean said, ‘I didn’t say that. It’s half a vote for Hillary Clinton.'”
Senator Sasse’s office confirmed that Hannity and Sasse had a conversation yesterday, saying “we will politely decline to comment on the specifics of the conversation.”
