The Republican National Committee has added a gift to the pile already accumulating from the gift that keeps on giving, the January 6th Trump Insurrection at the US Capitol. Censuring the two Republicans who are serving on the January 6th committee, and then declaring that the Trump Insurrection was "legitimate political discourse," the RNC sealed the fate of multiple candidates from their own party.
I'm completely convinced that there's always been a rift between Trumpies and mainstream Republicans, most of whom hated his guts, or at least resented his presence, but were afraid to do or say anything because of the support he got from a group of people who were not really much involved in party politics before he came along. But the RNC, dominated by Trumpies, widened the rift to the size of an arroyo (sorry, western term) with its censure of Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger, and its ridiculous proclamation that the insurrection was "legitimate political discourse."
It is interesting to see mainstream, hard core Republicans like Mitch McConnell, who had what was so far the most oppositional words for the RNC, being at odds with the party structure. I was not surprised at Mitt Romney's comment. Mitt hasn't ever uttered a favorable word about Trump that I can recall. It's frustrating because at times, when he should have spoken up, he's been silent. But I think he might be biding his time. I don't know of anyone else who can claim they've never played Trump's loyalty game, and with the speech he made prior to the 2016 Republican convention, he has more credibility than anyone else.
Nor was I surprised at Lindsay Graham. Graham and Cruz are birds of a feather. They put their finger up to see which way the wind is blowing and that's where they go. Standing on principle is foreign to them, they have no integrity and they'd sell family members into slavery if they could gain something from it. Graham is insulated by not having to run again any time soon, and he's enough of an insider that seeing him bolt from the cult like this is a good indicator that the wind may be blowing in a different direction. If Trump turned around and said "boo" to him, he'd shrivel like the Wicked Witch of the West in the Wizard of Oz, but ole Lindsey is good at looking out for Lindsey.
Legitimate Political Discourse
It was Will Rogers who said, "The short memories of the American voters is what keeps our politicians in office." It's only been a year. The amount of recorded video from both outside the Capitol and inside after the entrances were breached, is unprecedented. So is the complete and utter stupidity of the cattle who got inside, pooping and peeing on the floor as they went, getting out their cameras and filming their criminal activity and documenting their presence in the building. And if that wasn't the ultimate act of stupidity, most of them posted it on social media.
In all of the footage of the Trump Insurrection, I don't see anything that looks like political discourse taking place. Nor does what was going on resemble any kind of "tourist" activity that I've ever seen. People do tend to have short memories when it comes to politics, which is, as Rogers says, exactly why some of them remain in office. Even the politicians themselves act like they've forgotten what they've said and done when there's something negative in their past behavior that has the potential to cost them votes. But this was not a forgettable event. So changing the terminology, calling it something other than what it was will only work on those who already have the will not to believe and are blinded by their own bias or have been brainwashed.
It is unfortunate that the number of such people is pretty high. But its not high enough to change the narrative. This was Trump's Insurrection, proper noun, capital on both words, a riot he incited with the full intention of using it as a means of subverting the constitution, a failed coup attempt to overthrow the legitimately elected President. Among the vast majority of those who are not brainwashed by the Trump loyalty cult, attempting to call this "legitimate political discourse" is laughable and ridiculous. Who wants to put people in office who lack the kind of reason and grasp on reality that it takes to call this exactly what it was?
Censuring Cheney and Kinzinger Defines the Difference Between "Mainstream Grassroots Republicans" and "Trumpies"
The GOP loves to bill itself as "The Party of Lincoln." They abandoned Lincoln's values in 1876 by trading off continued support for Reconstruction, which was protecting the gains in voting rights and economic development among former African American slaves, but they still make the claim. There were some Republicans back then who wanted to hang on to the party's values and continue to protect the gains made by African Americans even though it would have meant giving up the White House for at least a term. James Blaine, who had served as a member of Congress from Maine, Speaker of the House and Secretary of State paid the price for sticking to party values and not wanting to compromise just to make a deal to hold on to the Presidency. So there's a precedent in the GOP for what Cheney and Kinzinger have done.
Being the daugher of one of the most recognizeable Reagan Republicans of the past 40 years puts Liz Cheney right in the very center of the GOP. Kinzinger is a little bit to the left of that, but not much. There's no question that they are both principled and pedigreed Republicans who, like those who founded and operate the Lincoln Project, have remained conservatives without bowing down and paying tribute to the cult. They are Republican enough that, under different circumstances, I wouldn't consider voting for either one of them. But in the shadow of the Trumpie cult, if I were a Wyoming Democrat, I'd consider sending Cheney back to Congress, especially if she had a better chance of winning re-election than a Democrat would have of taking the seat. And she probably does.
President Biden needs to fnd a place for Kinzinger to serve in his administration. He'd still act and think like a Republican, but since the Illinois legislature eliminated his district when they had to cut out a district and draw new maps this year, and he has integrity, a rare quality in that political party, he needs a place to effectively serve. In all honesty, he'd be a much better candidate for governor of Illinois than any of the Republicans currently running, on the integrity issue alone, but I'll still vote for J. D. Pritzker, who has done one of the more outstanding jobs handling COVID of any other goverrnor.
The censure of these two representatives is one of the clearest indications of exactly how far off the rails the Trumpies have pushed the GOP. If they've been censured, then the party leadership is no longer Republican, and no longer the party of either Lincoln or Reagan. Maybe the Trumpies hold the support of a majority of Republicans, and maybe they don't, but they don't hold the support of enough to win on a nationwide basis. Kinzinger and Cheney are mainstream and their censure will cause a lot of other mainstream Republicans to think about what they're doing. More than enough to keep the Trumpie side of the party from winning a lot of Congressional seats.
Out on a Limb? Hardly
There's still a lot of talk about how the party in power in the White House loses the mid-terms. I'm predicting otherwise. Democrats still need to be doing a lot less talking like policy wonks, and start bragging about their gains. There are several tracks here along which trains should be running fast and hard. January 6th and all the fallout from that is huge. Does the rift, now an arroyo, split into a canyon between Trump and GOP leaders? It can't get much worse.
I've been right before.
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