Trump Slams ‘wayward’ Republicans For Capitol Riot Vote
Former US president Donald Trump blasted “wayward Republicans” after lawmakers made a rare bipartisan push to investigate the Capitol riot.
With the support of 35 Republicans, the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives voted 252-175 to look into the events of 6 January.
Party leaders had urged Republicans to oppose the bill, with Mr Trump labelling it a “Democrat trap”.
The bill appears to lack the Republican support it needs to pass in the Senate.
It seeks to create an independent inquiry modelled on the commission that investigated the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington.
The legislation establishes a 10-member body, evenly split between the two main parties, that would make recommendations by the end of the year on how to prevent any repeat of the Capitol invasion.
Trump supporters stormed Congress on 6 January in a failed bid to thwart certification of President Joe Biden’s victory in November’s election.
Wednesday’s vote was seen as a loyalty test to the former president for members of his party.
All 10 of the House Republicans who voted to impeach Trump in the days after the Capitol riot for incitement of insurrection were among the 35 who voted for the commission.
In a statement after the vote, Mr Trump hit out at the “wayward” Republican group, saying, “they just can’t help themselves”.
“Sometimes there are consequences to being ineffective and weak,” Mr Trump added.
Why Its Become More Difficult To Break With The National Party
Many members of Congress used to have local reputations independent of their parties, presenting themselves as fighters for local interests and dollars in Washington. Even if most voters hated Congress, they still liked their own representatives and senators.
But the long-term trends are nationalization and polarization . Voters learn less about their own legislators and more about the president, in part due to decreasing reliance on local news. As a result, fewer voters split their tickets, voting for one partys candidate for president and the others for Senate or the House.
Democrats have faced the same problem in trying to distinguish themselves from their party. Voters recognized the independent streak of West Virginias Joe Manchin and Montanas Jon Tester in the 2018 midterms, but Missouris Claire McCaskill, North Dakotas Heidi Heitkamp and Indianas Joe Donnelly werent able to overcome the Republican lean of their states. Manchin went so far as to appear in ads showing him shooting at policies he disliked and proclaiming for me, its all about West Virginia. He won a state that Hillary Clinton lost by more than 42 points.
More members are running scared in the primaries, political scientist Sarah Treul told me. Even if theyre actually not having quality challengers emerging, theyre afraid of it happening. And I think a lot of them are spending time trying to figure out how can ward off one of those challengers from even coming to the table.
Trumpism Without Trump Could Be Tough To Pull Off
No one knows yet what role Trump will play in future Republican politics. His recent attack on McConnell suggests he at least wants to continue to punish Republicans he sees as disloyal. The possibility Trump could run again will make politics awkward for Republicans eager to claim his mantle for their own presidential ambitions.
The prospect of Trumpism without Trump has enticed conservatives and worried liberals ever since the Trump phenomenon began. Republicans have learned to rail against globalism and the deep state. They are unlikely to return to comprehensive immigration reform any time soon.
Trump has breathed new life into old conservative staples such as law and order and the perils of socialism. But Trumps relationship with his supporters goes far beyond his political positions, or even the grievances and emotions he harnessed.
Trumps appeal was based on the perception that he had unique gifts that no politician ever had. He cultivated a media image that made him synonymous, however incorrectly, with business success. His tireless verbal output, whether through Twitter or at endless rallies, created an alternative reality for his followers. Many saw him as chosen by God.
That kind of charismatic magic will be extremely difficult for any career politician to recapture. Republicans may discover that Trumpism is not a political movement but a business model, a model only ever designed for one benefactor.
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Trump Sends A Message To Senate Republicans Ahead Of His Trial
The ex-president could seek vengeance on GOP senators if they break with him on impeachment and vote to convict.
01/25/2021 09:14 PM EST
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A top political aide to former President Donald Trump spent the weekend quietly reassuring Republican senators that the former president has no plans to start a third party and instead will keep his imprint on the GOP.
The message from Brian Jack, Trumps former political director at the White House, is the latest sign that Republicans considering an impeachment conviction will do so knowing that Trump may come after them in upcoming primaries if they vote to convict him for incitement of insurrection.
Jack did not mention impeachment in his calls. But he wanted the word to get around that Trump is still a Republican and for many, still the leader of his party.
The president wanted me to know, as well as a handful of others, that the president is a Republican, he is not starting a third party and that anything he would do politically in the future would be as a Republican, recounted Sen. Kevin Cramer . The Republican Party is still overwhelmingly supportive of this president.
On Monday evening, Trumps second impeachment trial began unfolding and Republicans started deliberating in earnest over how, or even whether, to defend the president.
By KYLE CHENEY and JOSH GERSTEIN
No, I dont, said Braun.
But she added that something more vivid is on many senators minds.
Can Trumpism Become A Winning Strategy Again
For years, but especially since Mr. Bidens victory, the transformation of the Republican Party into what Ms. Cheney called an anti-democratic Trump cult of personality has fueled predictions of its imminentcollapse. But there are more than a few reasons to think Trumpism could once again carry the party to victory and remain in power for a long time.
A realignment in the electorate: Even as the G.O.P.s politics of racial grievance became more overt under Mr. Trump it was birtherism that catapulted his political career, as the Times columnist Jamelle Bouie reminded readers in January the American electorate has become less polarized around racial lines. At the same time, it has become more polarized by educational attainment. According to David Shor, the head of data science at OpenLabs, support for Democrats increased from 2016 by seven percentage points among white college graduates in the 2020 election but fell by one to two points among African-Americans, roughly five points among Asian-Americans and by eight to nine points among Hispanic Americans.
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Why Did Black Voters Flee The Republican Party In The 1960s
That strategy proved crucial for Nixon. He carried South Carolina , plus Florida, North Carolina, Virginia, Tennessee and Kentucky. It turned out to be enough, even though five other Southern states’ electoral votes went to George Wallace, the segregationist former governor of Alabama who ran that year as the nominee of the American Independent Party.
Nixon worried about another Wallace bid costing him Southern states again in 1972, and he worked hard to maneuver Wallace in another direction. In the end, Wallace sought the Democratic nomination for president in 1972 . Nixon swept the South that year en route to winning 49 states overall.
The wilderness after Watergate
After such a resounding reelection, it seemed unimaginable that Nixon or his party could be in political trouble so soon after his second inauguration. But a 1972 burglary at the headquarters of the Democratic National Committee , was traced to Nixon’s campaign. His efforts to cover up that connection were then exposed, leading to impeachment proceedings. When audio tapes of his conspiratorial meetings with aides were made public, he resigned and was pardoned by his successor, Gerald Ford.
Republicans once again found themselves in the wilderness. Midterm elections arrived right after the resignation and pardon. Republicans nationwide paid the price, with the party losing seats in Congress it had held for generations.
Another Southern-bred comeback
Why Republicans Stick With Trump
188 Comments By Bobby Jindal
- Bobby Jindal The Wall Street Journal
- Biography
With each new controversy, Donald Trumps opponents plead with Republicans to denounce him. Hasnt Mr. Trump broken from GOP orthodoxy on free trade, immigration and entitlement reform? Not to mention the personal scandals and the never-ending tweets. Why do Republican leaders hesitate to rebuke him?
A shallow answer is politics: Sens. Jeff Flake and Bob Corker both tangled with Mr. Trump, and it turned out to be political suicide. But to get a deeper answer, its instructive to examine what Mr. Trump hasnt done. Since the campaign, Mr. Trump has abandoned many of his previous positions and embraced traditional conservative views.
Spending and taxes. During the election, Mr. Trump promised a $1 trillion infrastructure plan. Some Republicans feared his first initiative on taking office would be a pork-laden spending package reminiscent of Barack Obamas stimulus bill. They also worried he would cut a deal with Democrats to raise taxes. I am willing to pay more, Mr. Trump said in May 2016. And do you know what? The wealthy are willing to pay more. Instead, the reverse happened: Theres no infrastructure plan in sight, except for the border wall, and Mr. Trump signed a sweeping bill to reduce personal and corporate taxes.
Mr. Jindal served as governor of Louisiana, 2008-16, and was a candidate for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination.
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The Deafening Silence Of Republicans
President Donald Trump shakes hands with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Ky., center, before the start of a meeting with House and Senate Leadership in the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington, Tuesday, June 6, 2017.
This is what GOP lawmakers who think Trump went too far or doesnt deserve to be president are up against. If they grow a spine and rebuke him, they will lose their seats in their districts next election. So far, just distancing themselves or making vague excuses is enough for most. Some even have to voice full-throated support or be primaried by a wide-eyed zealot foaming at the mouth about Antifa super-soldiers building extermination camps for Christians, expending hundreds of thousands of dollars from a campaign chest to repel an attack on their right flank.
Some, of course, are just Trumps who can form a coherent sentence and with six fewer bankruptcies from which their dads had to bail them out while ruthlessly chewing them out in front of other family members and important business partners. Like their voters, they also feel ecstatic that a fellow narcissistic bigot is in charge, and are ready and willing to make things harder on their more moderate and less enthusiastic colleagues.
Why So Many Republicans Cling To Trump
Ben Shapiro got part of it right. A toxic mix of status anxiety, persecution fears, and echoes of the Civil War helps explain why they follow Trump into the abyss.
On September 17, 1862, over 10,000 Confederate soldiers were killed, wounded, or went missing in a single day at the Battle of Antietam. Very few of them came from slave-owning families, so why did they agree to give their lives in defense of human bondage?
I was reminded of this question when I noticed that Politico Playbook had recruited conservative celebrity and author Ben Shapiro;to explain why the vast majority of House Republicans voted not to impeach President Trump on Wednesday for sending a murderous mob after them on January 6. Politico was slammed by liberals for opening its best-known section to a conservative whos been charged with being bigoted and intolerant. But Shapiros explanation of the rallying around Trump during his final days wasnt totally off base. He was on to something about how Republicans see the world.
With Trump leaving office within a week, defending his incitement of an insurrection doesnt seem to be in the long-term self-interest of Republican officeholders.;But the Civil War example helps explain why people sometimes do very self-destructive things out of spite or insecurity.
White supremacy was such a consensus view at the time that Lincoln felt compelled to defend it.
Like the rebels at Antietam, no one wants to die for nothing.
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The Republican Doomsday Cult
Artwork By Rantt Media Production Designer Madison Anderson
With that in mind, we can explore a truly bizarre dynamic thats been unfolding before our eyes. Since the John Birch Society kidnapped the heart of American conservatism, theyve managed to turn it into a doomsday cult which preaches that any deviation from their orthodoxy will be the end of America and therefore the world as we know it. To keep voters in line and tens of millions in cash from the party rank and file, it unleashed what could only be described as a tsunami of conspiracy theories and fake news to support them.
To be a Republican today is to wholeheartedly believe that youve been losing the battle against nefarious forces for the last half-century and if you dont fight back, or should your party not win absolute control at every level of government, the Reptoid Illuminati MS-13 Antifa Sharia Jew World Order will come to your house, rip your face off, and steal your grandchildren to sell as sex slaves in basements of pizzerias. And whereas a charismatic cult leader would know full well that this is a ruse to keep his followers pliant no matter what he does to them, Trump believes the same exact things.
SIGN THIS PETITION TO CALL FOR GUN VIOLENCE TO BE TREATED LIKE AN EPIDEMIC;
‘combative Tribal Angry’: Newt Gingrich Set The Stage For Trump Journalist Says
All these factors combined to produce a windfall for Republicans all over the country in the midterms of 1994, but it was a watershed election in the South. For more than a century after Reconstruction, Democrats had held a majority of the governorships and of the Senate and House seats in the South. Even as the region became accustomed to voting Republican for president, this pattern had held at the statewide and congressional levels.
But in November 1994, in a single day, the majority of Southern governorships, Senate seats and House seats shifted to the Republicans. That majority has held ever since, with more legislative seats and local offices shifting to the GOP as well. The South is now the home base of the Republican Party.
The 2020 aftermath
No wonder that in contesting the results in six swing states he lost, Trump seems to have worked hardest on Georgia. If he had won there, he still would have lost the Electoral College decisively. But as the third most populous Southern state, and the only Southern state to change its choice from 2016, it clearly held special significance.
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As Gop Sticks With Trump Grassroots Energy On The Right Has Gone Missing
WASHINGTON Tax Day 2009 was the start of the Tea Party protests against Barack Obamas agenda.
But as we approach April 15, 2021 even with the tax-filing deadline extended to May 17 its become noticeable just how quiet the conservative grassroots have been during President Bidens first three months in office.
Part of it is due to the fact that Biden has never been the lightning rod for the right that Obama, Hillary Clinton, Nancy Pelosi and even AOC are.
But another part is the 2020 defeated candidate who decided to stick around: Donald Trump.
‘he’s On His Own’: Some Republicans Begin To Flee From Trump
NEW YORK President Donald Trump’s steadfast grip on Republicans in Washington is beginning to crumble, leaving him more politically isolated than at any other point in his turbulent administration.
After riling up a crowd that later staged a violent siege of the U.S. Capitol, Trump appears to have lost some of his strongest allies, including South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham. Two Cabinet members and at least a half dozen aides have resigned. A handful of congressional Republicans are openly considering whether to join a renewed push for impeachment.
One GOP senator who has split with Trump in the past called on him to resign and questioned whether she would stay in the party.
I want him out, Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska told The Anchorage Daily News. “He has caused enough damage.
The insurrection on the heels of a bruising election loss in Georgia accomplished what other low points in Trump’s presidency did not: force Republicans to fundamentally reassess their relationship with a leader who has long abandoned tradition and decorum. The result could reshape the party, threatening the influence that Trump craves while creating a divide between those in Washington and activists in swaths of the country where the president is especially popular.
President-elect Joe Biden isn’t putting his weight behind the effort yet, suggesting there’s not enough time between now and his Jan. 20 inauguration to pursue impeachment or any other constitutional remedy.
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