Republican Senator Ben Sasse comes out swinging at Donald Trump, lays groundwork for impeachment

| 11:56 pm EDT October 11, 2017
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If you’ve been waiting for another Republican Senator to follow Bob Corker’s lead by coming out swinging against Donald Trump, then wait no more. On Wednesday, John McCain hit Trump firmly but narrowly over his failure to abide by Russian sanctions. But then Ben Sasse stepped to the plate late on Wednesday night, and let’s just say that he was more direct in his condemnation of Trump.

After Trump spent the day lamenting how awful it is that the media has freedom of the press, and explicitly threatening to shut down broadcast networks such as NBC, Senator Ben Sasse fired back at him at the end of the day. Sasse tweeted a a brief press release after 10pm eastern time. It was titled “Sasse to Trump: are you recanting of your oath?” Then came the press release itself.

The press release text said “U.S. Senator Ben Sasse issued the following release tonight after President Trump yet again attacked the First Amendment: Mr. President, words spoken by the President matter. Are you tonight recanting of the oath you took on January 20th to preserve, protect, and defend the First Amendment?” (link). Sasse’s statement is far more carefully worded than Corker’s all-out rant, but here’s what really matters: Sasse has directly accused Trump of violating the Constitution, in exact words. That’s everything, because it’s specifically impeachable, and Sasse knows it.

Bob Corker condemned Donald Trump for being a psychologically unstable infant, but impeachment is supposed to be for committing crimes. Ben Sasse just accused Trump in exact words, albeit in the form of a question, of committing a specific crime against the Constitution: trying to deny citizens the First Amendment. This lays the groundwork for an eventual impeachment effort. It’s the first sign that the Republicans might actually try to strategically impeach Trump before the midterms after all.