It was almost by chance I noticed this on Twitter this morning. Someone tweeted this out, and a few folks started retweeting it, and eventually journalists were asking “Wait, is this real?”

https://twitter.com/Adrian1Silva/status/797578573699776512

Ben Sasse even seems to have confirmed it on his Twitter account.

Fact check?#real https://t.co/p8qRG1xp8p

— Ben Sasse (@BenSasse) November 13, 2016

And here’s a brief explanation.

I like to work alongside and for Nebraskans.
I drove uber yesterday.
(For charity–I'm obv'ly not allowed to make any outside money)

— Ben Sasse (@BenSasse) November 13, 2016

So, I asked the Sasse team if this was really real, just in case, and they confirmed it. Here’s their statement:

Senator Sasse does tons of Nebraska work events — from changing tires on semi-trucks to feeding cattle at 5am. This work tour was built around the changing and disintermediated economy, a subject he talks about frequently. The Senator doesn’t receive a dollar for these work opportunities and doesn’t want to.

The disintermediated economy they refer to is based on the idea that the economy is shifting to get rid of the middle men – you know, the folks who used to be the steps between a maker and a buyer in the economy, like wholesalers, brokers, agents, etc. – leaving a lot of folks struggling. Sasse’s work tour is the chance for him to go to these folks who need help and offer it, alleviating their burden as much as he can.

Whether its helping farmers, or assisting truck drivers, or even helping someone who might not have a vehicle get from one place to another, he’s actually going out into the state that elected him and helping out his people. It’s pretty awesome, and it’s a strangely novel concept: a politician that actually goes out and serves his people.

Man, what a strange, new world we live in.