Senator Ben Sasse (R-Neb.) Called on his Republican party to rebuild and “repudiate the nonsense that has set our party on fire” in a post in The Atlantic Saturday on QAnon’s conspiracy theory.
Why it’s important: Many of the crowds involved in the deadly January 6 Capitol Hill riots carried articles indicating their support for the far-right QAnon and a prominent member of the cult was among those arrested after the siege.
- Several Republicans who ran in Congress last year publicly supported or defended the QAnon movement or some of its principles, which Sasee noted in his opinion titled “QAnon is destroying the GOP from within.”
- Sasse blames the violence on “the flowering of a rotten seed that took root in the Republican Party a long time ago and that has been nourished by betrayal, bad political judgment and cowardice.”
Leading the news: Sasse wrote in his opinion that “until last week, many party leaders and consultants thought they could preach the Constitution while keeping an eye on QAnon.”
- “They can’t,” he added. “The Republican Party must reject conspiracy theories or be consumed by them. Now is the time to decide what this party is about.”
- Sasse criticized House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-California) for failing to denounce QAnon supporter Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) When she ran for Congress in 2020.
- “She has already announced plans to try to accuse Joe Biden of her first full day as president,” Sasse wrote. “She will continue to make fools of herself, her constituents and the Republican party.”
It is necessary to emphasize: Sasse said before the House challenged President Trump for the second time that he would consider “definitively considering” any article denouncing him over his conduct and comments at a rally before the riots.
The summary: Sasse wrote that his party faces an election when Trump leaves office: “We can devote ourselves to defending the Constitution and perpetuating our best American institutions and traditions, or we can be a party of conspiracy theories.”
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