Here’s what I keep wondering: How can those who launched the deadly attack at the U.S. Capitol continue to count as allies the House Republicans who voted against impeachment when many of those GOP lawmakers denounced the insurrectionists as thugs deserving of criminal prosecutions?
These delusional rioters became convinced they were part of a noble cause that would lead to congressional Republicans on Jan. 6 triumphantly overturning the presidential election in favor of Donald Trump.
Many of the same Republican lawmakers who had riled up the Trump base for two months, repeating the Big Lie that countless votes were rigged and the election was stolen from Trump, on Wednesday turned their backs on the faithful by portraying them as lawless marauders worthy of no sympathy. In some cases, the House members dismissed them as the lunatic fringe.
In the aftermath, many riot participants say they have been betrayed as they decry the punishment they’re facing – possible jail time, loss of a job and loss of reputation among friends and family members. I have no sympathy. But I have to believe that some form of Trumpsters’ backlash against congressional Republicans is coming soon.
The story took a big turn
After all, the rioters must have been floored when they heard House GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy’s anti-impeachment speech, which began this way: “Let me be clear, last week’s violent attack on the Capitol was undemocratic, un-American and criminal.” And “the president bears responsibility for (the Jan. 6) attack on the Congress.”
Other Republicans stepped to the microphone to call the pro-Trump insurgents anarchists and radicals guilty of appalling, shameful behavior. These were the same congressional rabble-rousers who, a week earlier, had followed the plan and voted to illegally toss out the Electoral College votes – even after the violent insurrection had just occurred.
“The president of the United States deserves universal condemnation for what was clearly, in my opinion, impeachable conduct: Pressuring the vice president to violate his oath,” said Rep. Chip Roy, R-Tex., though he eventually opposed the impeachment vote.
Roy never acknowledged that the right-wingers who purged the Capitol had engaged in spirited chants of “Hang Mike Pence.”
McCarthy also popped the balloon of all those Trump die-hards by declaring that “there was absolutely no evidence” that Antifa was involved in this act of domestic terrorism. He added that there was no significant evidence of election fraud and so “Joe Biden will be sworn in as president of the United States in one week because he won the election.”
Blue Lives Matter now means what?
On the other side of this seedy story, Rep. Steve Scalise, the No. 2-ranking House Republican, called for a tribute to the Capitol Police who tried to stave off the siege, and he received a standing ovation from the House chamber.
Scalise made no mention that about 60 cops were injured, and one was killed, by pro-Trump rioters during the insurgence. Yet, the Republican Party’s devout support of police and #BlueLivesMatter was belied by the Capitol siege that featured the violent beatings of D.C. and Capitol cops and shouts of “kill” the police.
The most important factor to determine what happens next, whether more violence is to come, may center on the reaction to the president’s video message released on Wednesday that seemed to disavow those Trumpsters who engaged in brutal behavior during the Jan. 6 riot.
Many rioters thought they were following the president’s wishes but Trump, hoping to avoid any criminal indictments or litigation, pulled a 180-degree turn and left his most loyal fans in the dust.
Trump said, “I want to be very clear. I unequivocally condemn the violence that we saw last week.” He hypocritically added, “No true supporters of mine could ever endorse political violence.”
If they have any degree of intelligence, the Trump dead-enders will realize before next week’s Biden inauguration that they were conned by a con man – and that his slippery sycophants on Capitol Hill are only interested in political self-preservation.
Don’t bet the ranch on their intelligence. They don’t read you — or much of anything
What’s going to leave marks on the GOP and crazed rioters that no amount of two-faced spin will deflect are, 1) serious prison sentences for the insurrectionists and their accomplices, which may include Capitol staff or even members of Congress and, 2) continued loss of campaign money from corporate donors and others who know that above all, sedition is bad for business.