Senator Ben Sasse Atlantic editorial: QAnon destroys the GOP from within



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Senator Ben Sasse (R-Neb.) Called on his Republican party to rebuild itself and “repudiate the nonsense that set our party on fire” in an op-ed in The Atlantic on Saturday on the QAnon conspiracy theory.

Why is this important: Many of the crowds involved in the deadly January 6 riots on Capitol Hill carried articles signaling their support for the far-right QAnon and a prominent cult member was among those arrested after the siege.

  • Several Republicans who ran for Congress last year have publicly supported or defended the QAnon movement or some of its tenets – something Sasee noted in his editorial, titled “QAnon Destroys GOP From Within.”
  • Sasse attributes the violence to “the blossoming of a rotten seed which took root in the Republican Party some time ago and which has been nurtured by betrayal, political bad judgment and cowardice.”

Driving the news: Sasse wrote in his editorial that “until last week many party leaders and consultants thought they could preach the Constitution with a nod to QAnon.”

  • “They can’t,” he added. “The GOP must reject conspiracy theories or be consumed by them. Now is the time to decide what this party is.”
  • Sasse slammed House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), For failing to denounce QAnon supporter Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) When she ran for Congress in 2020.
  • “She has already announced her intention to try to impeach Joe Biden on his first full day as president,” Sasse wrote. “She will continue to make fun of herself, her constituents and the Republican Party.”

To note: Sasse said before the House nominated President Trump for the second time that he would consider “definitively considering” any articles of impeachment against him for his conduct and comments at a rally before the riots.

The bottom line: Sasse wrote that his party faces a choice when Trump steps down: “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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