McConnell, McCarthy, & Johnson Cancellations

CANCELLATION OF THE IMPEACHMENT

Mitch McConnell (R-KY), Senate Minority Leader 

The Impeachment Managers of the House of Representatives were gathered to deliver the Article of Impeachment against Donald tRump to the Senate on January 15, 2021.  There would be five days left to hold the trial.  Mitch McConnell prevented the Senate from receiving the Article of Impeachment by keeping the Senate in recess.  He also negotiated for extra time for tRump to prepare his case.  He argued that there was not enough time to hold an impeachment trial.  

Once tRump was out of office, he voted that tRump's impeachment would be unconstitutional because he was no longer president.  Constitutional scholars disagreed.  He voted against convicting tRump, saying that it was because tRump was no longer in office.  The fact that the House Impeachment Managers were forced to try the case against tRump after he left office was obviously a situation orchestrated by McConnell and then used to justify his vote against conviction.  

Immediately after tRump's acquittal, McConnell argued passionately and convincingly that tRump was guilty, saying that the courts could still convict him.  Notice that the actual impeachment trial took only five days, the same amount of time that McConnell had declared to be too short to hold a trial.  The length of the trial was also manipulated by McConnell through his insistence that there be no witnesses, including the president.  McConnell advised the tRump legal team to threaten to call hundreds of witnesses, including members of the Democratic leadership, in order to delay the installation of key components of the Biden administration.   Democrats decided to not call witnesses in order to prevent delaying relief to the American people from hardships incurred from the coronavirus pandemic.

CANCELLATION OF THE ELECTORAL COLLEGE AND NORMALIZATION OF QANON

Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), House Minority Leader

During the riot on January 6, 2021, Kevin McCarthy pushed tRump to call off the mob in a heated exchange.  Afterward, he joined his fellow Republicans to object to the certification of the Electoral College votes on the basis of unfounded claims of election fraud.  This act continued to support the false notion of election tampering among extreme tRump supporters.  How was the Big Election Lie going to be discredited if the Republican Party leaders were endorsing it?

On January 13, 2021, Kevin McCarthy declared tRump responsible for the attack on the Capitol and clearly stated that it did not involve Antifa.  He pointed out tRump's delayed response to the violence.  He called for tRump to accept responsibility and to calm his violent supporters.  He also recommended that Congress establish a fact-finding commission and censure tRump.  Notice that this would pacify big donors who found the insurrection unforgivable but limit tRump's punishment to a mere slap on the wrist rather than the full impeachment initiated by the House of Representatives.  McCarthy was clearly gambling that this was a consequence with which tRump would be willing to live.

By January 21, 2021, McCarthy had reversed his stance and said that he did not believe tRump incited the mob's attack on the Capitol.  This, of course, paved the way for him to get back in tRump's good graces and reassure tRump supporters.  Removing his accusations of blame against tRump seemed to have worked.  On January 28, 2021, McCarthy flew to Florida for a photo-op with tRump and to plan election strategy for the 2022 midterms.  This was a striking image of solidarity between a disgraced and traitorous former president and the current House Republican Party Leader.  Would insurrection be their platform?

On February 3, 2021, McCarthy held a vote by secret ballot that resulted in Liz Cheney keeping her position as the Chair of the House Republican Conference despite her vote to impeach tRump.  This strategy allowed the GOP to indicate to traditional Republicans that the party still holds its foundations but without risking votes from tRump supporters for individual Republicans up for re-election.  At the same event, the Conference supported the controversial QAnon supporting House member, Marjorie Taylor Greene, with a round of applause.  This aggressive tRump supporting member had faced calls for her removal from House committees.  These two acts of support were in stark contrast.  Supporting Cheney was a nod to the traditional party values.  Supporting a QAnon conspiracy theorist was a nod to the far-right radical fringe.  

On February 4, 2021, the House voted to remove Marjorie Taylor Greene from her assignments to the education and budget committees in response to her deadly threats to Congress members, support of white supremacists, denial of 9/11 events, denial of school shootings and harassing of their victims, and support of QAnon conspiracy theories.  McCarthy was criticized for not only assigning her to committees in the first place, especially the education committee, but also for refusing to remove her from the committees.  As a result, the Democrats and 11 Republicans removed her.  McCarthy voted against the removal, saying that it should only be done by Republican action.  Critics pointed out that McCarthy forced their hand by not acting, and Democrats responded with action.  Many have noted the GOP's open support for an irrational conspiracy theorist while openly condemning Liz Cheney for condemning tRump's insurrection.  This is a clear indication of how much the GOP fears the tRump base.

CANCELLATION OF THE INSURRECTION WHILE BLAMING DEMOCRATIC LEADERSHIP

Ron Johnson (R-WI), the senior United States Senator for Wisconsin

On December 15, 2020, Ron Johnson declared that he had no plans to object to the certification of the Electoral College votes for the presidential election because there was no evidence of election fraud.  However, on January 2, 2021, Johnson joined 10 other Republican senators in their plan to object to the counting of Electoral College votes in key states.  This public endorsement of the Big Election Lie added fuel to the flames of the growing insurrection endorsed by tRump.

On January 6, 2021, Johnson reversed his position and did not vote to overturn the election following the insurrection.  However, the sense of fear and threat felt by Johnson on the night of the attack apparently subsided over time and led him to change his perspective once again.  

On February 7, 2021, Johnson tried to push the false idea that Nancy Pelosi was somehow to blame for the insurrection despite the fact that the mob was blatantly trying to hunt her down and kill her.  Encouraging that angry mob would not be in her best interest.  Clearly there was no incentive for her to carry out this act of insurrection.  The certification of Joe Biden's election represented a victory for the Democratic leader.  

On February 15, 2021, Johnson claimed that the attack on the Capitol did not seem like an "armed" insurrection to him.  He said this despite the confiscation of a wide array of weapons possessed by the rioters including high-capacity guns with armor-piercing bullets, bear mace, stun guns, Molotov cocktails, and pipe bombs.  His attempt to downplay the seriousness of the attack on the nation's Capitol has obviously little ground on which to stand.

ACHIEVE tRUMP'S ULTIMATE GOAL:  THERE WAS NO IMPEACHMENT, THE ELECTION WAS NOT LOST, QANON SUPPORTERS ARE ACCEPTED, THERE WAS NO INSURRECTION, AND DEMOCRATS ARE TO BLAME FOR IT ALL

These three Republican leaders are playing a wild balancing act.  They are trying to simultaneously soothe and pacify a wild and irrational fringe conspiracy movement supporting and supported by tRump while also reassuring the more rational mainstream Republicans, especially the donors, that the party has not lost its way.  Accomplishing this requires concocting a major dose of hypocrisy.  The question is whether or not Republican voters will swallow it.