'America Doesn't Have Kings': GOP Senator Slams Back At Trump Attack
Sen. Ben Sasse (R-Neb.) snapped back at an imperious attack by President Donald Trump on Monday, angrily reminding him that “America doesn’t have kings.”
Trump accused Sasse earlier Monday of going “rogue” after the Republican senator harshly criticized the president for signing four new executive actions Saturday that the senator said overstepped Trump’s authority. Sasse called them “unconstitutional slop.”
Trump gloated that Sasse “needed my support and endorsement in order to get the Republican nomination” in his state.
“I understand that you’re mad,” Sasse politely began in a statement on his campaign Twitter account. But then he unleashed this: “No president — whether named Obama or Trump or Biden or AOC — has unilateral power to rewrite immigration law or to cut taxes or to raise taxes. This is because America doesn’t have kings.”
He also snapped that he “never asked” for Trump’s endorsement — “nor did I use it in the campaign.”
Mr. President-
I understand that you’re mad. A few thoughts....
⁰⁰(1) As we’ve discussed before, I don’t think Twitter is the best place to do this. But, since you moved our conversation from private to public, here we are.
(2)...https://t.co/AYF2ApdRR2pic.twitter.com/2rtiPuhJJB— Team Sasse (@TeamSasse) August 10, 2020
Trump’s executive actions included deferring the payroll tax that exclusively funds Social Security and Medicare, and cutting the enhanced unemployment benefit from $600 to $400 a week (provided states pay $100 of that). Sasse slammed the move in a statement as “unconstitutional,” adding that Trump “does not have the power to unilaterally rewrite the payroll tax law.”
Trump threatened to “terminate” the payroll tax if he is reelected, which would eliminate funding for Social Security and Medicare, America’s bedrock safety-net programs. Only Congress can cut taxes.
Trump’s executive actions appear to be frozen in legal limbo and...
