Republican Sen. Ben Sasse dismissed concerns that the Nebraska GOP State Central Committee may censure him, slamming their “weird worship” of former President Donald Trump.
In a video published to Sasse’s YouTube channel on Thursday, the senator claimed that some members of the committee were misdirecting their ire at the anti-Trump Republican, claiming that the members are “angry about life.”
“Nebraskans aren’t rage addicts, and that’s good news. You are welcome to censure me again, but let’s be clear about why this is happening: It’s because I still believe, as you used to, that politics isn’t about the weird worship of one dude,” he said.
Bruce Desautels, the head of the Hitchcock County Republican Party, says a two-page “Resolution of Censure” against Sasse has been drafted to condemn Sasse’s “stated support of the impeachment of President Donald J. Trump” and “defamatory public statements” against Republican Sens. Josh Hawley and Ted Cruz “for their challenging of electors cast for Joseph Biden in the 2020 election.”
Sasse’s message Thursday aimed to critique the party, claiming that the GOP committee in the state had drifted from its conservative values in the four years following Trump’s 2016 electoral win.
“Something has definitely changed over the last four years, but it’s not me,” he said. “Personality cults aren’t conservative. Conspiracy theories aren’t conservative. Lying that an election has been stolen — it’s not conservative. Acting like politics is a religion, it isn’t conservative.”
The senator has been censured in the past for not supporting Trump, according to a Fox News report. Two county GOPs have already censured Sasse, with a third likely arriving on Friday.
The former president, who was impeached in the House of Representatives on Jan. 13 on an article of incitement of an insurrection, will now face trial in the Senate, which is set to begin on Tuesday. Next week’s trial marks the president’s second impeachment effort. Trump had previously been impeached on two Ukraine-related charges in December 2019 before he was acquitted in the GOP-majority Senate.
Sixty-seven senators, including 17 Republicans, would need to vote affirmatively in order for Trump to be convicted. Sasse has indicated he may help Democrats inch closer to that threshold, leaving open the possibility of voting in favor of conviction.
“We’re going to have to choose between conservatism and madness, between just trolling versus actually persuading the rising generation of Americans again,” Sasse added in his video address.
A vote on the GOP’s censure resolution is slated for Feb. 13, when the committee will convene in Columbus, News Channel Nebraska reported.
The Washington Examiner reached out to the Nebraska GOP State Central Committee but did not immediately receive a response.
