The number two Republican in the Senate, Sen. John Thune (R- S.D.) said Trump allies across the country are engaging in ‘cancel culture’ by censuring GOP senators who voted to convict former President Donald Trump in the Senate impeachment trial.
“There was a strong case made,” Thune said according to The Associated Press. “People could come to different conclusions. If we’re going to criticize the media and the left for cancel culture, we can’t be doing that ourselves.”
Thune, who called Trump’s actions on Jan. 6 “inexcusable”, voted with 42 other Republican senators to acquit Donald Trump of the charge of inciting an insurrection because he was concerned with the idea of “punishing a private citizen with the sole intent of disqualifying him from holding future office.”
Thune supported Republican Conference Chair, Liz Cheney she voted to impeach Trump and received backlash from some in her caucus calling for her to step down from leadership.
Thune also indicated that he would assist candidates who “don’t go off and talk about conspiracies and that sort of thing.”
“At the grassroots level, there’s a lot of people who want to see Trump-like candidates,” Thune said. “But I think we’re going to be looking for candidates that are electable.”
