Ben Sasse represented Nebraska in the United States Senate from 2015 to 2023. As a Midwestern moderate, the sometimes controversial Sasse was often critical of MAGA Republican President Donald Trump on social media and on the Senate floor.
At one point, the Nebraska GOP censured him because of his criticism of Trump. But Sasse, like Maine Republican Senator Susan Collins, would still vote with the majority of his party when his vote was needed to back Trump's agenda.
The Republican senator resigned effective January 8, 2023, to become the president of the University of Florida effective February 6, 2023. He then resigned from that position effective July 31, 2024, for an undisclosed "family health issue" believed to be his wife's epilepsy diagnosis.
On December 23, 2025, Sasse announced he had been diagnosed with terminal "stage-four pancreatic cancer." In an April 2026 interview with The New York Times, Sasse disclosed the cancer had spread to his liver, lymph nodes, lung and vascular system.
Sasse has been making a number of media appearances recently, reflecting on his time in office and the state of the country.
On Sunday, he spoke to 60 Minutes and addressed falling birth rates in the United States. Sasse, whose wife homeschooled their three children, jumped on the conservative bandwagon lamenting an alleged male loneliness epidemic and Millennials' and Gen Z's reluctance to have children or be in relationships with toxic men.
Sasse told interviewer Scott Pelley:
"What in the world is happening with the natalism crisis? We've stopped having sex. Sex has collapsed demographically, premarital, extramarital, marital."
Premarital and extramarital sex are generally discouraged by major religions, with infidelity also being frowned upon by society at large. Sasse's comments were reminiscent of when Fox News senior medical analyst Dr. Marc Siegel called the lack of teen pregnancies a "problem."
Sasse continued:
"It is very weird...I don't have a phone on me, but that we carry around these super devices in our pockets that have distracted us from some of the most fundamental human activities and aspirations."
"Having a baby is a bet on the future. And almost everywhere in the world—and the world is richer and richer and richer statistically than it's ever been—people have decided actually babies are kind of an inconvenience."
Sasse added:
"Babies have always been an inconvenience and the most glorious thing you can do to enrich your family and to make a bet on the future. How weird that we've stopped having sex."
Sasse concluded:
"We've stopped making babies. We've decided that being distracted by a dopamine hit around Candy Crush might be a good way to spend your time. Not if you're a full human."
You can see his comments here:
Like Dr. Siegel, who conflated statistics regarding live-birth rates as an indicator of fertility rates, Sasse falsely asserted people's unwillingness to become parents indicated people weren't having sex.
People can and do have sex that will never result in a pregnancy. And for sexual acts that can produce a pregnancy, more people are choosing to ensure it doesn't.
People were quick to respond to Sasse's assumption that they were too digitally distracted to procreate.
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Birth rates in the United States have dropped to historic lows, showing a 23% decline since the last peak was reached in 2007.
In 2025, the birth rate showed a continued decline, falling to 53.1 births per 1,000 women aged 15-44 which is down from 53.8 per 1,000 in 2024.
Conservative leaders and right-wing media have been calling the decline a "crisis" while advocating for decreasing or eliminating social safety nets and blocking universal childcare, healthcare, and paid family leave.
It's almost as if people need those programs before they'll have children, as if everyone isn't an independently wealthy man with a stay-at-home wife to raise his children.
Conservatives out of touch with reality? Who could have guessed?
You can watch the full 13-minute interview with Sasse here:
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