Let me start at the beginning: Republicans are guilty of insurrection. The President spent months undercutting the election he expected to lose, wound up his crowds for days, then turned them loose on the Capitol. Trump is guilty. Both Sen. Mitch McConnell and Rep. Kevin McCarthy said this (since it’s obvious) before they recanted in terror.
Scope
This may be a broad conspiracy. Along with police and the military complicity, I’ve seen credible reports that Republican representatives aided and abetted the insurrection leaders before the invasion. The rioters arrested so far are revealing a network of planning and funding sources. The insurrectionists and White Nationalist terrorists are tangled up with Republican donors. The RNC may be involved, and while we don’t know the specifics yet, the national Republican Party may be is implicated.
Peculiar Indifference
It’s odd. The pathetically hyperpatriotic Republican party hasn’t proposed any actions about the Capitol’s January sixth insurrection and sacking. No investigations, no inquiries, no questions at all, and no Republican legislation. They seem weirdly uninterested, considering the invaders threatened – credibly – their deaths. The rioters themselves said they’d have torn people apart.
This is part of a larger pattern. Republicans are anti-democratic to their core. The peaceful transition of power is critical to our democracy, but they can’t do it. The GOP works to divide the country and undercut the institutions of democracy.
Good governance requires transparency. I don’t want to beat a dead horse, but Republicans lie about everything. I mean, everything.
Obstruction isn’t a Policy
Wonder why Republican leaders spend all their time lying and drumming up new cultural wars? Because they have no choice. There is no Republican agenda. They have nothing of their own. They’re an empty shell of a party that only exists to corrupt the system and satisfy donors. Republicans used to just grind away at the edges of fairness, but now GOP openly opposes democracy.
Now, Republicans hypocritically complain that Democrats aren’t nice enough. Democrats aren’t trying hard enough to be bipartisan. Republicans set themselves up as judge and jury about every part of politics.
No, I don’t want to hear Republican complaints about partisanship, unity, or mean tweets. Republicans are guilty on those counts. National Republicans are the defendants and not the judge and jury. Liars and bad-faith actors lost the presumption of good faith.
Who Can Judge?
Republicans object to any bipartisan commission to examine what happened during the January sixth insurrection.
No, that can’t stand. Republicans are guilty of fomenting the attack against the American government. A Republican majority voted to overturn a free and fair election. Republicans admitted Trump was guilty even as they acquitted him. Did Republicans delay the Electoral College count so the rioters would have more time to attack? Might be. There are reports that Republicans gave tours of the Capitol the day before the riots.
The Republican leadership stalls. They ask us to move on. Drop the “political theater” of investigating the crime they may have committed. Not that they’re admitting anything.
Republicans who are guilty have no standing on the investigation. Some of the Republicans are guilty, perhaps many. When you suspect someone of a crime, they don’t get to direct the investigation or the prosecution.
Republicans Could Fix This
You’d think Republicans would work it out. Being implicated has consequences, but they’re not insurmountable. If they recused some Senators and Congresspeople, we could move the investigation forward. But that won’t happen. The “members of interest” won’t recuse themselves, and Republican leadership won’t act against them. They leave us no choice but to exclude them en masse. No, we can’t let Republicans touch the investigation until they clean this up.
Not everyone is at fault, but we know some Republicans are guilty. The insurrectionists figuratively and literally attacked the federal government. They’ve forfeited any say in our governance until we resolve that hideous bloodstain.
What Happens Next
Stop pretending this didn’t happen. The Republicans are guilty of aiding and abetting the rioters. If we don’t change things, it will happen again. We can’t move until we find out what happened and which Republicans are guilty of insurrection. It’s the only way to get past this.
