New York: Oh how things have changed. Just a year ago, many Republicans joined Democrats in a scathing response to the Capitol uprising, condemning the violence perpetrated by rioters and the role played by former President Donald Trump, with lies about a ‘theft’ of his Played a role in fueling the outrage that fueled the actions. Election.
But on the anniversary of the attack, top Republicans were far more silent. Some acknowledged the horror of the day, but quickly turned to the Democrats’ bashing. Many avoided the planned abbeys at the Capitol. And yet, the others said nothing.
This is all part of the political calculation in a party in which the former president is heavily in charge.
missing in action
Top Congress leaders of the party were missing from Thursday’s commemoration events at the Capitol. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy made no appearance or issued a statement. Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell, who slammed Trump after the attack, was in Atlanta for the funeral of former Senator Johnny Isaacson.
Indeed, during a moment of silence held in honor of law enforcement officers, only two Republicans were present in the House chamber: Representative Liz Cheney of Wyoming, who has become a pariah in her party over her criticism of Trump’s actions, and her father. , former Vice President Dick Cheney.
In a statement, McConnell called January 6 “a dark day for Congress and our country”, adding that “the seat of the first branch of our federal government was attacked by criminals who brutalized police officers and forced Congress to do its job.” used force to prevent him from committing.
But he also criticized Democrats for what he said was politicizing the attack. “It is surprising to see that some Washington Democrats are taking advantage of this anniversary to try to advance partisan policy goals that were in place long before this event,” he said.
It was a notable change from his comments last year after the Senate voted against Trump’s impeachment. “There is no question ‘nobody’ that President Trump is practically and morally responsible for instigating the day’s events. There is no question about it,” he called it “a shameful, shameful dereliction of duty.”
then and Now
Like McConnell, Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, a friend and ally of the former president, was outspoken in his condemnation of Trump shortly after the January 6 attack. “All I can say is count me. Enough,” he said then.
On Thursday, however, Graham, who remains close to Trump, marked the occasion with a mix of shock and partisan attacks. “I still can’t believe that a mob was able to capture the United States Capitol during such a critical moment,” attesting to the presidential election. It would have been so easy for terrorists to gear up at this protest and cause even more devastation on the US Capitol,” he wrote.
Still, he turned to politics, describing the speeches of President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris at the Capitol as “more of an attempt to revive a failed presidency than to mark the anniversary of a dark day in American history.” Did.
“His brazen attempt to use January 6 to support radical election reform and change Senate rules to accomplish this goal will not succeed,” he wrote.
politics first
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, considered a possible 2024 presidential candidate, also received a boom. Speaking to reporters in Florida on Thursday morning, at the same time as Biden was addressing the nation, DeSantis slammed Democrats and the media for making the event so much more.
“It’s his Christmas, January 6th,” he said. “They’re going to take it and milk it for anything that might ever try to be able to smear anyone who supports Donald Trump?”
He criticized those comparing the severity of the terrorist attacks between January 6 and September 11, 2001, saying that most Florida residents have other issues on their minds.
Using military slang for the chaotic situation, he said, “I think it’s just going to be a politically-political Charlie Foxtrot today.” “I think it’s going to be quite frankly vomiting.”
No comments
Other potential 2024 candidates, meanwhile, have remained apparently silent, underscoring the complex calculus they face in a party in which Trump remains heavily in charge, with widespread support from primary-voting voters.
Former Vice President Mike Pence, who ran for his life as rioters on January 6, stormed the Capitol, chanting “Hang Mike Pence!” A statement was not issued on the occasion.
Pence has said that he and the former president would never “look eye-to-eye” on the events of January 6 and defended his role that day in rejecting Trump’s demands that he reverse the election results, something that To do what they did not have the power. At the same time, he accused the media of “dehumanizing” Trump supporters and “diverting attention from the failed agenda of the Biden administration,” as he said on Fox News in October.
There was also nothing to say, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who is laying the groundwork for a possible 2024 campaign by highlighting the successes of the Trump administration, and Nikki Haley, former ambassador to the United Nations, who has found himself on the wrong side of the party’s base. found in. When he criticized Trump shortly after the rebellion.
She has since said that she will not run for the GOP nomination if Trump chooses to move forward with the comeback campaign he has been teasing.
counter-programming
While Trump canceled the anniversary news conference he was planning in Florida for Thursday, many of his ardent followers determined their own counterprogramming.
“We have nothing to be ashamed of,” Florida GOP Representative Matt Gaetz said during an appearance with Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Green, on a podcast hosted by former Trump strategist Steve Bannon, who has been charged with defying a subpoena from a House committee investigating the rebellion. “We are proud of the work we did on January 6 to make a valid argument about electoral integrity.”
Green slammed Republican Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, a potential 2024 contender, for marking an event that marked “a violent terrorist attack on the capital.”
She accused Cruz of disrespecting “MAGA patriots” and “the rioters at the Capitol and the people who violated the Capitol.” “Shame on Ted Cruz,” she said.
old guard
The GOP’s transformation into Trump’s party probably came to notice most clearly as former Vice President Dick Cheney paid an unexpected visit to the Capitol to support his daughter, who has become one of the most prominent anti-Trump voices.
Asked what he did about his handling of the anniversary of the Republican leadership, Cheney, who served under George W. Bush, was upbeat in his assessment of an institution that had all been recreated in Trump’s image. .
“It’s not a leadership that resembles people I knew when I was here for 10 years, dramatically,” Cheney, a former Congressman, told reporters.
“As a historic event, the importance of January 6 cannot be underestimated,” he said in a statement. “I am deeply disappointed at the failure by many members of my party to recognize the serious nature of the January 6 attacks and the ongoing threat to our country.”
Karl Rowe, who served as deputy chief of staff in the Bush administration and advised Trump during the 2020 campaign, wrote an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal addressing those in his own party who had For years the tasks have been waived. Rioters stormed the Capitol, disrupted Congress as soon as the Electoral College results were received, and violently attempted to reverse the election”.
He wrote, “There can be no leniency in what happened and no apology for those who encouraged and helped the effort to overthrow our democracy. The love of the country asks for nothing less. This is true patriotism.” Is.”