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Is Ben Sasse anti-Trump? Rep senator says POTUS 'kisses dictators' butts', Internet wants to give him a medal

Sasse accused Trump of bungling the response to Covid-19 pandemic, cozying up to dictators and white supremacists and also trashing Evangelicals behind their backs

Senator Ben Sasse, Republican of Nebraska, slammed President Donald Trump in a telephone town hall with constituents on Wednesday, October 14, accusing the president of bungling the response to the Covid-19 pandemic. He also accused POTUS of cozying up to dictators and white supremacists and offending voters. He described Trump by saying "he kisses dictators' butts", "sells out our allies", spends "like a drunken sailor", mistreats women, and trash talks Evangelicals behind their backs.

In the nine-minute indictment of Trump’s foreign policy, the senator said the president had mistreated women and alienated important allies around the globe, been a profligate spender, ignored human rights and treated the pandemic like a “PR crisis". He predicted that Trump's loss on Election Day, less than three weeks away, “looks likely", and said that Republicans would face steep repercussions for having backed him so staunchly over four tumultuous years. 

"If young people become permanent Democrats because they've just been repulsed by the obsessive nature of our politics, or if women who were willing to still vote with the Republican Party in 2016 decide that they need to turn away from this party permanently in the future, the debate is not going to be, you know, 'Ben Sasse, why were you so mean to Donald Trump?' It's going to be 'What the heck were any of us thinking that selling a TV-obsessed narcissistic individual to the American people was a good idea?' It is not a good idea," he said.

“We are staring down the barrel of a blue tsunami,” he added. Hinting at the drastic consequences, Sasse named a few — "Venezuela style" Supreme Court with dozens of justices installed by ascendant Democrats, an empowered China ruling the Pacific because of Mr Trump’s “weak” policies and American allies doubting whether they can trust in US strength and the US will.

This was not Sasse's first time criticizing Trump. In 2016, during the presidential primary election seasons, Sasse stated that he would not support Republican front-runner Trump as a party's nominee. He was the first sitting senator to make such a statement. He also questioned Trump's commitment to the US Constitution, in particular accusing him of attacking the First Amendment, stating that Trump had refused to condemn the Ku Klux Klan. He also said that Trump "thinks he's running for King". He also said that if Trump won the party's nomination, then he would vote neither for him nor for Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton, but would probably "look for some third candidate, a conservative option, a Constitutionalist". "Mr Trump’s relentless focus is on dividing Americans, and on tearing down rather than building back up this glorious nation," he had said.

In September 2017, Sasse stated that he thought about quitting the GOP "every morning" and said that he thought of himself as "an independent conservative who caucuses with the Republicans". Sasse described Trump as a "megalomaniac strongman" and also called the president's tariffs on steel and aluminum imports "dumb". He also described Trump's escalating trade war with China as "nuts".

In March 2018, he criticized Trump for congratulating Vladimir Putin on his election win and said, "The president of the United States was wrong to congratulate him, and the White House press secretary was wrong to duck a simple question about whether or not Putin's reelection was free and fair. It was not. The American people know that the Russian people know that and the world knows that. The White House refused to speak directly and clearly about this matter; we were weakened as a nation and a tyrant was strengthened." In January 2019, Sasse was among the 11 Republican senators to vote to advance legislation intended to block Trump's intent to lift sanctions against three Russian companies.

As soon as his statements about Trump on October 14 came to light, people started reacting to it. Writer Tim Miller wrote, "Why do you want the person described here to be leader of our country for 4 more years @BenSasse?" While another one pointed out that Sasse chose this election to say all these things in particular and wrote, "Ooooh, Ben Sasse coming through in the end like a jerk. He told NPR, the other day, that the President says ridiculous stuff all the time and doesn’t believe most of it. He didn’t say that last year, the year before, the year before that....he waited."

Others seemed impressed with Sasse as one user wrote, "The Guy deserves a Medal! I wish Rep Senator Ben Sasse & other R Senators who speak on background had the moral courage 2 speak their true views about the Unstable one!" while another one said, "BOOOOOO. I’m with Ben Sasse on this one."

Another user shared a link about Sasse's recent comments and wrote, "But, doesn't have the guts to do the right thing and stand up to trump. More important to keep his cushy senate job." But one user related to what Sasse said: "I was going to tweet this out earlier before Twitter went haywire, but I think Senator Ben Sasse succinctly captures my attitude towards the GOP's cowering to Trumpism."

These remarks were made by the internet and individual organizations, MEA WorldWide (MEAWW) cannot confirm them independently and nor does it support these claims being made on the Internet.