Sasse: Verbal Attacks 'Baked Into the President's Stock Price'

President Donald Trump’s “amoralistic” attacks on his perceived enemies are “baked into the president’s stock price” — and voters have come to expect it, Sen. Ben Sasse, R- Neb., said Sunday.

In an interview on CNN’s “State of the Union,” Sasse, a frequent critic of the president, asserted his defense last week of GOP Montana Rep. Greg Gianforte's body slamming a British reporter was “not OK.”

"But I do think it's sort of baked into the president's stock price,” he said. “This amoralistic take he has on it is just what most people think the president is going to do--  and most people where I live ignore most of it.”

“Some think it's funny,” he continued. “Some are anxious about it but some think that's just how the president talks. We need to do better than that. "

Sasse, the author of “Them: Why We Hate Each Other and How to Heal,”  also condemned Saudi Arabian leaders in the wake of the killing of Saudi dissident and journalist Jamal Khashoggi — but said cutting off arms sales doesn’t go far enough.

"The Saudis have said a whole bunch of crap that's not right, accurate or true,” Sasse said. “We know that. We need to have shared principles about what we need to get done if we rely on them in particular ways. Arms sales are one policy. They're a means. They're not an end." 

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