The GOP response to the attack on democracy - and on them - resembles other events. Some lawmakers and elder statesmen do speak out firmly. Many lawmakers say they’re unhappy, privately. Publicly, the party just unanimously re-elected its Trumpist leadership.
Ben Sasse spoke to the dynamic on @NPR: “This isn't just a supply problem. We have a big chunk of voters. They're not a majority. But they're really loud... hopped up on rage clicks, and they're demanding nonsense stunts like the objection to the Electoral College vote.”
If faced with an impeachment vote, lawmakers can vote directly on the proposition that’s put to them (that sending rioters to storm the Capitol is bad). But they can also apply the idea of narrow personal responsibility (punish the rioters, not the leader who incited them.)
They can cast a no vote on the grounds that Trump’s term is over and there’s no point. They can vote no, saying it’s a partisan exercise. Or they can continue indulging voter fraud fantasies and imply the attack was justified. The rhetorical options are many.
The Democrats’ goal would be, as much as possible, to pose the question simply: Are you for democracy? Or even more starkly: Was that riot that could have killed you okay with you?
A further way Democrats might pose the question: Are you okay with sending a mob that injured people who protect you, and killed one of them? Of course one may answer that the justice system will handle the actual killers. Unless, of course, the departing president pardons them.
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On House floor, Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon says she agrees with the calls for unity, but says lawmakers should "come forward in unity to defend the country," not defend an unfit president.
The first Republican speaker, Tom Cole of OK, agrees with the horror of the attack but disagrees with the 25th Amendment resolution, saying it is the Vice President's job, not the House. As he speaks, more Republicans are saying they favor impeachment, which is due Wednesday.
"Vice President Pence's judgment is sound," says Tom Cole. "I personally have strong faith in him."
At 6pm eastern time @NoelKing and I begin live coverage of tonight’s House debate pushing Vice President Pence and the cabinet to invoke the 25th Amendment. @NPR
The resolution cites Trump’s incitement of the attack on the Capitol and his drive to overturn his defeat, and says he “demonstrated repeatedly, continuously, and spectacularly his absolute inability to discharge the most basic and fundamental powers and duties of his office.”
Arrested: Larry Rendell Brock, of Texas. Federal prosecutors say he “unlawfully entered the U.S. Capitol wearing a green helmet, green tactical vest with patches, black and camo jacket, and beige pants holding a white flex cuff” normally used by police as a handcuff.
Also arrested: Eric Gavelek Munchel of Tennessee. Photos “show a person who appears to be Munchel carrying plastic restraints, an item in a holster on his right hip, and a cell phone mounted on his chest with the camera facing outward, ostensibly to record events that day.”
Now, I have seen people bring guns to “demonstrations,” but they were most often members of extremist groups in places such as Libya. I really can’t recall - not in Afghanistan, not Iraq, not Libya, not Egypt, not Venezuela - people bringing zip ties to a “demonstration.”
Rep. Mancy Mace, R-SC, tells @MorningEdition she supported Trump but knows Biden won and Congress shouldn’t re-litigate. Now a target of violence. “The American people were lied to, his followers were lied to... people believed that Congress could usurp the...Electoral College.”
“I had my swearing in on Sunday. I'm a single mom. I brought my two children up... But I put my kids on the first plane home on Monday because [of] the rhetoric I was hearing...
“My life has been threatened... I was accosted Tuesday night on a street in D.C. This is not OK.”
"Nothing before us proves illegality anywhere near the massive scale that would have tipped the entire election. Nor can public doubt alone justify a radical break when the doubt itself was incited without any evidence."
"This election actually was not unusually close.... 1976, 2000, and 2004 were all closer than this one," said McConnell. If Congress overturned it, "our democracy would enter a death spiral." Calls his vote to uphold the election the most important of his 36 years in the Senate.
McConnell adds, "The United States Senate has a higher calling than an endless spiral of partisan vengeance." Calls for the Senate to "honor the people's decision."
Colleague @johnson_carrie reports that Biden's pick for attorney general will be Merrick Garland. President Obama's last Supreme Court nominee, who was denied a hearing by a Republican Senate, now faces the prospect of a hearing before a Senate that Democrats may control. @NPR
Garland's deputies would be Lisa Monaco and Vanita Gupta, per a source talking with @johnson_carrie.
In the contrast between Garland (blocked in an election year) and Barrett (confirmed during the actual election) it's easy to argue Garland was the larger offense. In 2020 it could be said the president and Senate were still in office and should do their jobs for the full term.