Six Republican senators who voted against Trump to face censure as Romney accused of being ‘deep state’ agent

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Nearly all of the seven Republican senators who voted to convict Donald Trump in his impeachment trial are facing strong condemnation from their home state allies, with at least six facing or having already received official censures from their local GOP.

A proposed censure resolution from Utah Republicans says that Mitt Romney, the only GOP Senator who voted to convict Mr Trump in both impeachment trials—and in 2020, the first in US history to vote to remove a member of his own party—“appears to be an agent for the Establishment Deep State.”

Two have already been formally reprimanded. The leadership of the Republican Party of Louisiana voted on Saturday to censure Bill Cassidy on the same day as the impeachment ended. Patrick Toomey of Pennsylvania has also been censured by GOP leaders in counties across the state, one of which called the senator’s impeachment vote “a purely self-serving vindictive and punitive action by those with establishment political objectives.”

The backlash could be coming for even more senators as the week progresses. The North Carolina GOP is expected to vote on Monday about censuring senator Richard Burr, while senator Ben Sasse is also facing potential censure, a reaction from his party of fealty to former president Trump that he criticised as representing “the weird worship of one dude.”

Maine’s Susan Collins has also outraged her state GOP, which sent out an email to supporters on Saturday after the vote which said, “many of you are upset after what happened today as are we,” and conservatives around the state reportedly want a censure vote or some other kind of discipline for Ms Collins, an occasional Trump critic.

The repercussions for Republicans who dared to criticise their standard-bearer during the impeachment are likely to linger inside the party for years, according to insiders.

On Sunday, South Carolina senator Lindsey Graham, a die-hard Trump ally, said that Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell’s speech condemning the president’s“disgraceful dereliction of duty” had “put a load on the back of Republicans.”

“That speech you will see in 2022 campaigns,” he told Fox News.

Still, despite the anger from some of their colleagues, many of the seven who voted against Mr Trump have defended their choice.

“I have no illusions that this is a popular decision,” Mr Cassidy wrote in a column published on Sunday.

“I made this decision because Americans should not be fed lies about ‘massive election fraud.’ Police should not be left to the mercy of a mob. Mobs should not be inflamed to disrupt the peaceful transfer of power.”