Sasse Out!

Sasse to quit for cushy University of Florida job.

On a few occasions, Sen. Karen Sasse (R-NE) would do what's right when it came to calling out Washed Up 45. He joined six other Republicans in convicting the former president after he instigated a mob to attack the U.S. Capitol on Jan 6, 2021.

Thanks to Sasse, I developed a nickname for Fox's most annoying media agitator

"Softball" Hannity. When Sasse called out the annoying agitator for being too cozy to Washed Up 45, the softball clapped back saying he would do "easy" interviews with Sasse just to prove he isn't a pompous asshole.

"In my first speech here in the Senate in November 2015, I promised to speak out when a president — even of my own party — exceeds his or her powers," he said. "I cannot go back on my word, and Congress cannot lower our standards on such a grave matter, simply because it is politically convenient. I must vote to convict."

Now Sasse fearing a primary challenge and the constant death threats decided the time is now to quit. He is expected to leave the Senate at the end of the year and it opens up a seat that Republicans will have to defend.

Sasse is expected to leave the Senate to take a job leading the University of Florida, the source said. Sasse and the university confirmed that he is in talks for the top job there after news broke Thursday.

The news was first reported by talk radio host Ian Swanson of KFAB in Omaha, Nebraska, a former Sasse staffer, who opened his show Thursday by announcing that his former boss would soon be resigning to take a job in academia.

Sasse eaisly won re-election in 2020, and his term is set to expire in 2027. Sasse has been at odds with Washed Up 45 and his own party for years. As Washed Up 45 ran for re-election in 2020, Sasse unloaded on him, saying Washed Up 45 "kisses dictators' butts," "flirted with white supremacists," disparages women, “mocks evangelicals behind closed doors" and "treats the presidency like a business opportunity."

"Those lies had consequences, endangering the life of the vice president and bringing us dangerously close to a bloody constitutional crisis. Each of these actions are violations of a president's oath of office," Sasse said.

I mean dude voted with the former president about 90% of the time. He supported the tax cuts. He has been a thorn to President Joe Biden. He opposed the bipartisan infrastructure bill but ended up claiming credit for projects that helped Nebraska constituents. He opposed the first African American woman to sit on the Supreme Court.

In a statement Thursday, Sasse called the University of Florida “the most important institution in the nation’s most economically dynamic state.”

“Washington partisanship isn’t going to solve these workforce challenges new institutions and entrepreneurial communities are going to have to spearhead this work,” Sasse said. “If UF wants to go big, I’m excited about the wide range of opportunities.”

And he still voted against confirming Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court. 

It seems like having Sasse leave his job to be a part of the Gator community in Gainsville.

The University of Florida formally announced Thursday afternoon that its presidential search committee had unanimously selected Sasse as the “sole finalist” to lead the university.

“This is right for the University of Florida, right for the state of Florida and right for the Sasse family,” said Rahul Patel, the chair of the university's Presidential Search Committee. “Ben brings intellectual curiosity, a belief in the power and potential of American universities, and an unmatched track record of leadership spanning higher education, government and the private sector.”

The announcement kicks off a process, spelled out in Florida state law, that includes meetings between Sasse and officials in Gainesville, where the university is based.

After three weeks, the college’s board of directors will vote on the search panel’s recommendation; then the Florida board of governors will vote to approve the pick.

“We anticipate that will be accepted by the end of the year, and then he would resign before the end of the year and the Nebraska governor would select the replacement,” the source said.

The appointed senator would serve until Jan. 3, 2025. Because Sasse was just re-elected in 2020, a special election to fill the rest of his term would take place in 2024.

Sasse, 50, the former president of Midland University in Fremont, Nebraska, who served in President George W. Bush’s administration, was elected to the Senate in 2014.