WATCH: Nebraska senator explains ‘Weekend at Bernie’s’ White House reference made amid Trump endorsement

OMAHA, Neb. (WOWT) – U.S. Senator Pete Ricketts of Nebraska was asked Wednesday about several aspects of his endorsement of Donald Trump for president in the upcoming election.

During a news conference with Nebraska media on Wednesday, Ricketts acknowledged that he had compared the current White House to “Weekend at Bernie’s,” a 1989 comedy film about two young men parading their dead boss around as if he were still alive.

A reporter asked the Republican senator about the comment, saying it did not sound like the Pete Ricketts he covered when Ricketts was governor.

Ricketts explained: “That there is no leadership come from the White House whatsoever. I’ve been here for over a year now, and what I have seen is that what this president does is just he’s hired a bunch of very liberal bureaucrats and just let them do anything they want. There is no unifying message. There isn’t any sort of strategy. It is just these bureaucrats go off and do what they want, which is really what I was hitting upon earlier on too.”

Ricketts said the Biden administration’s electric vehicle push through pollution limitations provides an illustration of that point.

“When you think about the policies that we’re doing — for example, talk about the EV mandate, right? Well, if you push an EV mandate, I’ve had a chance to ask administration fields and other administration officials and others, where are you going to get the power generation? Where are you going to get the transmission lines? Have you thought about where the critical minerals are for the most part, I get answers of. No, we haven’t done that.”

Ricketts was also asked generally why he was endorsing Trump. He said it was time for Republicans to rally around Trump who is, for all practical purposes, the nominee and that he believes Trump can throw President Biden out of office.

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