Ben Sasse blasts Jeff Flake’s contribution to Democrat Doug Jones: This ‘is a bad idea’

Sen. Ben Sasse criticized fellow Republican Sen. Jeff Flake for making a political donation to Democratic Alabama Senate candidate Doug Jones as a protest against embattled GOP candidate Roy Moore, calling the stunt a “bad idea.”

“This donation is a bad idea,” Mr. Sasse, of Nebraska, tweeted Wednesday morning. “It’s possible to be against BOTH partial birth abortion AND child molestation. Happily, most Americans are.”

This donation is a bad idea.
It’s possible to be against BOTH partial birth abortion AND child molestation. Happily, most Americans are. https://t.co/BjVH2gL69F

— Ben Sasse (@BenSasse) December 6, 2017

Mr. Flake on Tuesday afternoon tweeted a now-viral photo of a $100 check he made out to the Jones campaign, writing “Country over Party” in the memo line. Mr. Sasse said Mr. Jones and Mr. Moore are both bad choices for Alabama and that Mr. Flake, of Arizona, should have just stayed out of it.

“Have said from day one I wouldn’t vote for either of them,” Mr. Sasse wrote. “If you don’t reject 2 bad choices now, you won’t get better choices in the future.

“Elections are not only about the present moment,” he added. “They are also about who we are as a people and who we want to be in the future.”

Mr. Sasse continued his criticism after learning that the Republican National Committee transferred $170,000 to the Alabama Republican Party in support of Mr. Moore, who faces accusations of inappropriate sexual conduct with nine different women.

“This is a bad decision and very sad day,” Mr. Sasse tweeted. “I believe the women — and RNC previously did too. What’s changed? Or is the party just indifferent?

“This sends a terrible message to victims: ’It’s not that the party won’t believe you if you come forward. It might. But just doesn’t care,’” he wrote. “A political party must be about more than expediency. To have any future, a party must have some fundamental convictions and commitments.

“If the political committee that I’m a part of [the National Republican Senatorial Committee] decides to contribute here, I will no longer be a donor to or fund-raiser for it,” he added.