Senator Ben Sasse (R-NE) expressed his fear of more bloodshed in a frightening 1,300-word Facebook post titled, “The Next Charlottesville.”

“I expect that violence will come when white supremacists and the alt-right fight anarchist groups aligned with the extreme left,” Sen. Sasse predicted. “It feels like violence is coming.”

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The Nebraska Republican received immediate criticism for such a “both sides” perspective, where the KKK is put on an equal moral plane with those resisting white supremacy.

If Ben Sasse wasn't full of shit he'd be asking why so many white kids today are going Nazi. He isn't so he ain't. — slackbot (@pareene) August 19, 2017

So, this viral Ben Sasse Facebook post is concern trolling of the highest order. It is an eloquent version of "many sides". — Paul Musgrave (@profmusgrave) August 19, 2017

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Sasse recounted a prediction he heard from a Trump supporter of a “powder keg” of violence coming from the right.

“To be clear, I think the alt-Right are a bunch of a**holes and we should admit that the president has done a bad job getting us through this,” one middle-aged Trump supporter told Sasse.

“When the next rounds of violence come, I’ll bet you most of it will come from the left,” Sasse’s constituent told him. “And then some folks I know will respond in kind. It’s gonna be a powder-keg.”

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man, sounds like Sasse's constituents scared the shit out of him https://t.co/LyRCsJYEAN — Travis Gettys (@wirecan) August 19, 2017

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Sasse, as usual, hides the ball pretty well, but the message (I have "concerns," violence on both sides, etc) is the same as ever — ArjunJaikumar (@ArjunJaikumar) August 19, 2017

It absolutely feels like violence is coming. But Sasse is still playing the "both sides" game. This is happening because we elected a Nazi. https://t.co/oVCNeW6FRn — John Aravosis (@aravosis) August 19, 2017

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Sen. Sasse offers a higher-minded bothsides take on what happened in Cville than Trump, but ultimately adopts all of Trump's false tropes. — southpaw (@nycsouthpaw) August 19, 2017

I see Sasse as the early frontrunner for the GOP nomination in 2020. This shows why. It's also strikingly pessimistic. https://t.co/hcOEBUp9Bk — Jonathan Alter (@jonathanalter) August 19, 2017

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