At long last, top Republican senators have reached their breaking point over their party’s unflinching support of former President Donald Trump and inexplicable defense of the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection. This split is good for the nation because it means that sanity might finally be returning to the top ranks of the GOP. They are demolishing the myth that political ruin awaits anyone who dares to challenge Trump. Courage is supplanting cowardice.
The breaking point came Friday when the Republican National Committee voted to censure Reps. Liz Cheney of Wyoming and Adam Kinzinger of Illinois for serving on the House select committee investigating the insurrection and “persecuting ordinary citizens engaged in legitimate political discourse.” Given that at least five people died, hundreds of police officers were injured, and the violence caused millions of dollars in damage to the Capitol, the “legitimate political discourse” reference proved to be a bridge too far.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell emerged Tuesday to correct the record: “We saw it happen. It was a violent insurrection for the purpose of trying to prevent the peaceful transfer of power after a legitimately certified election, from one administration to the next. That’s what it was.”
Missouri’s junior senator, Josh Hawley, continues to embrace Trump’s myth of a stolen election and has found all kinds of ways to talk around the bloodshed and destruction that occurred after he cheered as the mob crowded at police barriers. Hawley responded, “In my state, it’s not helpful to have a bunch of D.C. Republicans commenting on the RNC.” But apparently Hawley doesn’t speak for all Missouri Republicans. Sen. Roy Blunt was standing behind McConnell as the Republican leader spoke Tuesday.
Texas Sen. John Cornyn and Utah’s Mitt Romney also spoke out against the RNC statement.
So why is all this GOP infighting significant? In the hours after the insurrection, top Republicans spoke with crystal clarity, voicing outrage over the attack. Texas Sen. Ted Cruz called the insurrection a “terrorist attack.” Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina said he was done supporting Trump. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy held Trump personally responsible for what happened.
Then, as if space aliens had seized control of their brains, they executed a 180-degree about-face. The outrage disappeared. Those who didn’t publicly bow to kiss Trump’s ring observed a cowardly silence. Top GOP elected officials started telling Americans not to believe their lying eyes, as if all of the violence and bloodshed of Jan. 6 was a mirage. Cheney and Kinzinger were the only ones courageous enough to stand behind their convictions and demand accountability for those who planned the attack.
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