Who are you going to believe? RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel, Sen. Minority leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), or House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy?
There’s a split in opinion. Sen. McConnell came out strongly against McDaniel censuring Representatives Liz Cheney (R-WY) and Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill) for serving on the Jan. 6 Committee. According to McDaniel, “Representatives Cheney and Kinzinger are participating in a Democrat-led persecution of ordinary citizens engaged in legitimate political discourse”.
McConnell described the riot as a “violent insurrection”.
As usual, McCarthy equivocated saying “everybody knows” there was “legitimate political discourse” on Jan. 6, 2021. But after McConnell’s comment, McCarthy admitted that he agreed with McConnell; it was a violent insurrection (Arthur Delaney. “Rep. Kevin McCarthy Finally Admits Capitol Riot was ‘Violent Insurrection’”: Yahoo!News 2/9/22).
McConnell went on to say that it is not the job of the RNC to criticize individual members when they disagree on an issue. For a change, I agree with McConnell. He is telling the truth instead of remaining silent. While I am not a fan of McConnell, he has endured in the Senate since the time of Ronald Reagan. McConnell has a good sense of timing. He has spoken out because he knows more than he has let on, probably from what will be coming out of the House Jan. 6 Committee. McConnell senses that Trump’s star is fading. He is trying to maneuver the attention of the Republican Party in a more realistic direction so the Party can regain the Senate and House in the 2022 election, and he can retake control of the Senate leadership.
Meanwhile, Sen. Romney (R-UT) has stated he will raise money for Representative Liz Cheney’s reelection campaign. “Romney also says he texted his niece—Ronna McDaniel—to express his point of view condemning the censure resolution” (Manu Raju @mkraju). He continued his tweet by saying “Anything that my party does that comes across as being stupid is not going to help us.”
Meanwhile, former Vice President Mike Pence clearly stated that “Trump is wrong” in trying to overturn the 2020 election.
Finally, sanity arises from Republican leadership.
Jack Crosbie in his Feb. 8, 2022 article in Rolling Stone (“Senate Republicans are Pretending They’re Upset the GOP Condoned the Capitol Attack”) is far more cynical. He accuses the RNC leadership of both appealing to the extreme right and to more moderate conservatives who will take what they want to hear from these intraparty disputes, helping the Republicans to win the midterms.
For all the Trump supporters out there reading this article, how are you coping with reality? These aren’t the words of Democrats, or some local radical leftist Marxist who needs therapy. They’re the words of your party elders who have finally found a voice to speak the truth. Don’t you realize that the Republican Party has lied to you and supported a former president who tried to destroy democracy in this county — to turn us into a dictatorship? And you have gullibly believed those lies. For some of you, nothing that is revealed in the media that contradicts your beliefs will hold any sway over you. Isn’t it time to take your blinders off? The truth is becoming deafening, and you are trying to shut out the noise by silencing an opposing voice.
You really want a party that stands for family values, for morality, for fiscal responsibility, not one that has no platform. You want a Republican Party that can actually act in the best interests of its supporters, not in the interest of the super-rich. As a young person I belonged to a religious cult for seven years, but I finally wised up. Isn’t this the time for you to do the same?
Listen to what your Republican leaders are saying. You have been scammed and lied to and the Republican leadership is now saying as much. It’s time to wake up and smell the coffee.
