Name: John Thune says Trump supporters are indulging in 'cancel culture'
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John Thune says Trump supporters are indulging in 'cancel culture'

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&nbsp;Friday, Feb 19th 2021| Senate Minority leader Mitch McConnell's deputy Sen. June Thune is striking out at state parties who have censured or condemned fellow Republicans who voted to convict Donald Trump at his impeachment trial.Thune, who has worked his way up the leadership ladder and is a key ally to McConnell, warned of 'cancel culture' within the state parties and party activists – a stinging dig that Trump himself has used to blast those who would silence him or seek to pressure conservative opinion.&nbsp;He has a Capitol office located just steps from where angry rioters breached the Senate chamber, but decided not to vote to convict Trump of incitement of insurrection.&nbsp; In his first interview since he voted to acquit Trump, the Senate's No. 2 Republican defended fellow Republicans who sided with Democrats on the 'vote of conscience' and warned against shutting out dissenting voices in the party. 'There was a strong case made,' Thune said of the Democrats' impeachment presentation. '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.'&nbsp;His comments come after McConnell&nbsp;accused Trump of 'a disgraceful dereliction of duty' for his role in the Jan. 6th riot. Trump spoke to a crowd of supporters urging them to 'fight' just minutes before a MAGA mob stormed the Capitol.McConnell wrote in an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal that 'There is no question former President Trump bears moral responsibility. His supporters stormed the Capitol because of the unhinged falsehoods he shouted into the world's largest megaphone.'His behavior during and after the chaos was also unconscionable, from attacking Vice President Mike Pence during the riot to praising the criminals after it ended.'Thune's pushback comes after a number of state parties went after Republicans who parted with Trump.&nbsp;Among those censured was retiring Sen. Richard Burr of North Carolina and Ben Sasse of Nebraska.&nbsp; Trump mocked Thune, calling him 'Mitch's boy' two days before Christmas, amid Trump's effort to overturn the election results, then torched him again on January 1, tweeting: 'I&nbsp;, run against RINO @JohnThune, in the upcoming 2022 Primary. She would do a fantastic job in the U.S. Senate, but if not Kristi, others are already lining up. South Dakota wants strong leadership, NOW!'Trump, now banned from Twitter, publicly struck from his new home at Mar-a-Lago, back in a blistering statement trashing McConnell.He called McConnell a&nbsp;'dour, sullen', 'unsmiling political hack' and accused McConnell of 'destroying' the GOP and urged the party's senators to end his leadership. He also has vowed to get involved in GOP primaries to try to force out people he considers 'RINOs.'Thune's remarks were his first explaining his vote in Trump's trial and assessing the turbulent GOP politics the former president has left behind. Thune, who is facing reelection next year in deeply conservative South Dakota, is among several establishment Republicans grappling with how to reclaim control of a party dominated by Trump and his most ardent supporters for years.The senator only rarely criticized Trump while he was in office. But he called the former president's actions after the election 'inexcusable' and accused him of undermining the peaceful transfer of power.Still, Thune last week sided with most Republican senators and McConnell in voting to acquit anyway. Thune and others argued that Trump could not be impeached because he was already out of office. Thune said after his vote that he was concerned with the idea of 'punishing a private citizen with the sole intent of disqualifying him from holding future office.' Democrats fell 10 votes short of the 67 need to convict.Since then, Trump has lashed out at McConnell and repeated the baseless claim that he won the election. The comments have inflamed a feud that is likely to play out in GOP primaries between Trump-backed candidates and those supported by the establishment wing.Thune suggested he would be taking steps to assist candidates 'who don´t go off and talk about conspiracies and that sort of thing.' He praised Rep. Liz Cheney, a Wyoming Republican, who was censured by the Wyoming GOP for voting to impeach Trump, for doing an 'exceptional job on most issues' and said he was ready to jump into primary battles like the one she is sure to face.'At the grassroots level, there's a lot of people who want to see Trump-like candidates,' he said. 'But I think we're going to be looking for candidates that are electable.'Thune himself was hit by Trump last year after he said efforts by some GOP members in the U.S. House to reject Electoral College results would 'go down like a shot dog' in the Senate. Trump called Thune a 'RINO,' meaning Republican In Name Only, and 'Mitch´s boy,' in reference to McConnell. The attacks inspired some Trump loyalists in South Dakota to huddle for a primary challenge to the state's senior senator, whose candidacy has gone unchallenged in previous elections.On Thursday, the senator attempted to downplay those attacks, likening them to 'food fights within the family' that hurt Republicans' goals, He noted there was no evidence to support Trump's claim of voter fraud.'You´ve got to face the music, and at some point, it´s got to be over and you´ve got to move on,' he said, adding, 'I think it´s just important to tell people the truth. The most important responsibility of any leader is to define reality.'Share what you thinkThe comments below have not been moderated.The views expressed in the contents above are those of our users and do not necessarily reflect the views of MailOnline.Post comment to your Facebook TimelineBy posting your comment you agree to our .Submit CommentClearDo you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline?Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual.&nbsp;NoYesDo you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline?Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usualWe will automatically post your comment and a link to the news story to your Facebook timeline at the same time it is posted on MailOnline. To do this we will link your MailOnline account with your Facebook account. We’ll ask you to confirm this for your first post to Facebook.You can choose on each post whether you would like it to be posted to Facebook. Your details from Facebook will be used to provide you with tailored content, marketing and ads in line with our .Published by Associated Newspapers LtdPart of the Daily Mail, The Mail on Sunday &amp; Metro Media Group&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

&nbsp;Friday, Feb 19th 2021| Senate Minority leader Mitch McConnell's deputy Sen. June Thune is striking out at state parties who have censured or condemned fellow Republicans who voted to convict Donald Trump at his impeachment trial.Thune, who has worked his way up the leadership ladder and is a key ally to McConnell, warned of 'cancel culture' within the state parties and party activists – a stinging dig that Trump himself has used to blast those who would silence him or seek to pressure conservative opinion.&nbsp;He has a Capitol office located just steps from where angry rioters...

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John Thune says Trump supporters are indulging in 'cancel culture'

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