Sen. Ben Sasse, Nebraska Republican, borrowed a line Thursday from 2016 GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump as he continues his pitch to transform the culture of the U.S. Senate.
“You had Donald Trump on earlier — I think we need to make the Senate great again,” Mr. Sasse said on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.” “I’m thinking about printing up some hats.”
Mr. Trump has repeatedly talked about the need to “make America great again” on the campaign trail, and his campaign website sells hats with that slogan on them.
Mr. Sasse says he’s gotten good feedback on his maiden floor speech earlier in the week, when he said both parties share blame for the dysfunction and he’s noticed that senators’ behavior is markedly different when the cameras aren’t on.
“My message is the Senate shouldn’t die,” Mr. Sasse said. “It’s an important place, and we should act like it, and we should be solving big problems, and I think most people will totally recognize that’s true.”
He said he actually likes former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean, who was sitting on the show’s panel, then quickly joked that he just begged for a primary challenge in Nebraska at some point.
“This is a guy I’ve debated a few times in the past, and he and I differ on lots and lots of important questions, but I actually like the guy,” Mr. Sasse said. “I actually like the guy because we get to the meat of the issues we want to fight about.”
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