Daily Archives: January 7, 2022

ATLANTA On a day when Washingtons partisan divide felt as deep as it has in decades, lawmakers from both parties gathered in an Atlanta church on Thursday to honor one of the U.S. Senates great champions of bipartisanship, Johnny Isakson.

Mr. Isakson, a moderate Georgia Republican who once called bipartisanship a state of being, was 76 when he died on Dec. 19, having retired prematurely from the Senate in 2019 because of health complications. He was battling Parkinsons disease.

In Washington on Thursday, most Republican legislators refused to take part in the commemorations of the Jan. 6 storming of the Capitol by supporters of former President Donald J. Trump. But they came together at Peachtree Road United Methodist Church, in Atlantas Buckhead neighborhood, to honor Mr. Isakson.

Among the attendees were Senator Ted Cruz, Republican of Texas, and Senator Raphael Warnock, the Democrat who was elected to Mr. Isaksons old Georgia seat last January.

Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell, delivering words of remembrance, acknowledged that the funeral resonated in a spirit of comity that the Senate was once known for, but that has lately become more scarce.

I havent seen this big of a bipartisan group of Senators together off the floor since September, he said. That, he said, was the date of an annual, Johnny Isakson barbecue lunch, a social tradition that Mr. Isakson started and that lawmakers have continued in his absence.

Former U.S. Senator Saxby Chambliss, an old friend of Mr. Isaksons, also delivered remarks, noting that in his farewell speech to the Senate, Mr. Isakson said that he divided the world into two categories: friends and future friends.

Mr. Chambliss recalled that Mr. Isakson also quoted Mark Twains advice to do the right thing, on the grounds that It will gratify some people and astonish the rest.

Mr. Isakson held firm conservative beliefs, opposing the Affordable Care Act and gay marriage, but he also bucked the partys status quo at times, and he was not afraid to publicly criticize Mr. Trump.

Along the way, he made numerous friends in both parties; Mr. Chambliss said that former Georgia Governor Roy Barnes, a Democrat, once quipped, If all Republicans were like Johnny Isakson, I would be a Republican.

The pews were packed with friends and admirers from both parties, including Mr. Barnes. The top statewide elected officials in attendance included Gov. Brian Kemp and Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, both of whom are facing tough primary challenges from pro-Trump challengers.

A folk duo underscored the tone with a rendition of Let There be Peace on Earth. When they sang God Bless America, the mourners stood up en masse.

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Republicans and Democrats Come Together to Remember Senator Isakson on Jan. 6 - The New York Times

The Ohioan hopes to repair cross-aisle relationships tattered by the panels politically charged investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election and its subsequent prominence in Trumps first impeachment. Reorienting the panel toward its original mission of empowering the intelligence community, however, requires Republicans to reckon with the lightning-rod status that current Chair Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) maintains on the right.

Its an atmosphere that Turner himself has contributed to. Turner signed onto a 2019 letter calling for Schiffs removal, but repeatedly declined to endorse an ouster of the California Democrat in an interview this week a possible sign of a detente.

Obviously, Adam Schiff is not going to change fundamentally who he is. And that certainly is going to be a complicating factor, Turner told POLITICO. But on national security, I have a strong record of being able to work across the aisle and to try to advance whats important to our country. And Im going to continue in that vein.

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy picked Turner to replace Nunes, who resigned from Congress earlier this week to take a job as the CEO of Trumps new media venture.

Turner, 61, generally shuns the press but is known for his occasionally combative witness questioning as well as his tendency to reaffirm the neoconservative foreign-policy doctrines that Trumps allies sought to eviscerate and replace with a populist, isolationist worldview. When Fox News host Tucker Carlson suggested in November that the U.S. shouldnt be taking Ukraines side in its territorial disputes with Russia, Turner tangled live on the air with the conservative icon.

Apparently you need a little education on Ukraine, Turner told Carlson. Ukraine is a democracy. Russia is an authoritarian regime that is seeking to impose its will upon a validly elected democracy in Ukraine. And we're on the side of democracy.

The exchange underscored that, on the substance, Turners ascension represents at least a partial departure from the committee's tumultuous Trump years.

I think itll be clear as to who on the committee is committed to making a transition to national security, and those who are more committed to the partisan culture that Schiff has promoted, Turner told POLITICO this week, turning his focus to overseas threats from Iran to North Korea. There are real adversaries, and we need to focus on those.

Turner lauded Nunes for his work running point on the Russia probe for the GOP. Even so, he signaled an eagerness to move beyond a period that often found Republicans dismissing or avoiding questions about Trumps more erratic tendencies as well as his campaigns repeated contacts with Russian nationals.

Im coming in at a time where the biggest threat to our country is our external adversaries, and making certain that as a country, we focus on those and rise to those occasions," Turner said, adding that Nunes was pushing back on narratives that were absolutely false about Trump.

Schiffs communications director, Lauren French, defended the necessity of investigating the former president as part of the panels oversight of the intelligence community.

Our work will go on with the new ranking member, and we hope it will be productive, French said. We will not allow false personal attacks to distract us from conducting the important business of the committee.

Nunes was a loyal foot soldier for the Trump cause on Capitol Hill and a trusted confidant of the ex-president. During his final months in Congress, though, Nunes grew disengaged from the committee, skipping hearings and briefings while preventing the passage of a bipartisan intelligence authorization bill that the panel has long prioritized.

Democrats and Republicans alike say they expect Turner to be much more active than Nunes, given his interest in the committees core duties chiefly, oversight of the intelligence community.

I think this year is a good chance for Mike and Adam Schiff to reset the relationship, said former Rep. Mike Conaway (R-Texas), a former member of the committee who retired from Congress in 2021.

I have a lot of respect for Mike Turner, said Rep. Jim Himes of Connecticut, a senior Democrat on the panel whom some Republicans see as a potential successor to Schiff. He gets into the substance of national security in a way that I think is really good. And I know hes committed to it. Ive been sad to see [Nunes] sort of pull away.

Rep. Mike Turner speaks during a House Intelligence Committee hearing on Capitol Hill on Nov. 19, 2019. | Jacquelyn Martin/AP Photo/Pool

Turners new position is unlike any other panel leadership role; the Ohio Republican will join the so-called Gang of Eight, the group of senior lawmakers privy to the most sensitive classified information. The group includes party leaders in the House and Senate, as well as the top Democrat and Republican on both chambers intelligence committees.

Inside the committee room, however, Republicans believe the hard work of restoring the panels bipartisan nature likely will require a full leadership shakeup that replaces Schiff as well as Nunes. Discussions have occurred within the GOP about potentially removing Schiff from the intelligence committee if Democrats lose the House majority this fall, despite Turner's unwillingness to entertain that prospect.

While Republicans seem to be more serious about yanking another member from the panel Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.), another popular bogeyman for his political opponents Schiff is not off the table if he again assumes this committee role. But making any move against panel Democrats after the midterms would undoubtedly risk throwing the committee back into partisan war footing.

And that's not how Turner, first elected in 2002 with a background as a mayor and trial lawyer, tends to play his hands. GOP colleagues see him as poised to try to rebuild the panel's bipartisan reputation, with or without Schiff leading its Democrats.

His flashes of independence from Trump will help him there: The Ohioan condemned the then-presidents infamous 2019 phone call with Ukraines president, which sparked impeachment proceedings. Earlier that year, Turner blasted Trump for racist tweets about four female lawmakers of color, in which he said they should go back to the crime infested places from which they came.

After their combative interview, Carlson went after Turner on Twitter for voting against Trumps bid to defy Congress by redirecting funds for a southern border wall that were initially appropriated for military construction projects.

While he's willing to buck prominent conservatives, Turner is also prepared to singe Democrats. During a more recent appearance on Fox News, Turner slammed Schiff as largely discredited and accused him of pushing the Russia hoax a favorite phrase of Nunes' for political purposes.

Turner said the California Democrat had transformed the committee from its focus which is protecting our national security and the intelligence community, to being a vendetta against the Trump family and even the Trump campaign.

That Nunes-like language aside, those who have worked with Turner believe he'll take a sharp turn toward the previous legacy of the panel.

That committee is really important and really powerful, and has a lot to do with why we live the way that we live, said former Rep. Tom Rooney (R-Fla.), who served on the intelligence committee with Turner. And I think that it's just better served to go back to being a special committee that works well together.

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House Intels next top Republican prepares a sharp turn from the Trump years - POLITICO

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Congressman Joe Neguse (D-CO) reflects on January 6th one year later, and how the Republican Party still poses a danger to democracyJan. 6, 2022

Jason Crow: We're encountering a domestic extremist movement that wants to use violence09:11

Fmr. Chief of Homeland Security & Intel for DC: Were not looking at the threat in front of us07:41

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Rep. Jamie Raskin: This is a country thats wounded10:42

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Rep. Neguse: Trump has a stranglehold on the Republican Party - MSNBC

For better or worse the events of Jan. 6 will shape the political debate going forward.

The Connecticut Republican Party is doing its best to move forward and put the events of Jan. 6 in the rearview mirror.

We spoke with Republican Party Chairman Ben Proto about what Jan. 6 means to the party.

Its a dark day in our history and its a day that will live in our history for a very long time, Proto says. It was just a really horrible moment.

Proto says they need to move forward.

I think people are more concerned with where their lives are on Jan. 6, 2022 than Jan. 6, a year ago, Proto says.

But Democrats are trying to use the anniversary to push legislation that would federalize elections.

It is very conceivable that in 2022 we will lose American democracy, U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy says.

Murphy says the Republicans have taken over state legislatures across the country and put in place the tools that will allow them to win an election in 2022.

Republicans say the narrative wont work.

Democrats want to look backwards. I understand that because they have nothing to look forward to. Their accomplishments are none, their failures are many, Proto says. Theyve vowed to make Donald Trump an issue in 2022. They tried that in 2021 in municipal elections and they failed miserably with that.

As long as a majority of Republican voters continue to argue this election was stolen and that January 6 of last year was a justified act of rebellion against a corrupt electoral system then that is not going to work to their advantage politically, Sacred Heart Political Science Professor Gary Rose says.

Rose says its a losing argument.

The Republicans in Connecticut are probably not going to talk much about Jan. 6, Rose says.A lot of Republicans in Connecticut are going to keep Donald Trump and what happened a year ago really at arms length.

Democrats say the majority of Republicans continue to support former president Trump, but that narrative wont help them win a seat in Congress or the governors office in 2022.

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Connecticut Republicans Look To Move Past Jan. 6 And Trump - NBC Connecticut

The 2020 election was in the words of former President Trump's own department of homeland security "the most secure in American history."

But ahead of that vote, nearly 60% of all Americans said they lacked confidence in the honesty of U.S. elections, according to a Gallup poll from earlier that year.

One year later, two-thirds of all Americans believe U.S. democracy is threatened, according to a CBS News poll. That crisis of trust is bigger than just one party both Republican and Democratic voters have expressed doubt in the system.

As people stormed the Capitol last year, Sharon Story and her husband Victor didn't follow the crowd inside.

The grandmother of 10, who had driven all the way from Gaffney, South Carolina, to be there, firmly believes that the American democracy she used to teach about in her sixth grade classroom is on the edge of collapse.

"I think if they push people too far against the wall, especially the Southerners, they're not gonna take it," Story said when asked if she thought a civil war was possible in her lifetime.

And it's not just Story who worries that. University of California at San Diego political science professor Barbara F. Walter says in her book "How Civil Wars Start," when it comes to actual fighting, "we are closer to civil war than any of us would like to believe."

Story is also "not at all" confident that the 2020 election was the most secure in American history.

That feeling of fraud if only a feeling is what led so many to Washington, D.C., on January 6, 2021, to, in their minds, defend democracy.

The atmosphere at the Capitol riot was "patriotic, unity, hope," Story said.

"I feel upset," Story said, when asked how she reacts to others describing January 6 as a riot or an insurrection.

Her belief that the election was stolen is shared by millions, and it doesn't seem like anything or anybody can restore their faith.

"Not even Republicans," Story said of who she trusts. "Even Fox News, who we used to have respect for, you know, seems to let us down and called the election early."

What's particularly dangerous about this moment, though, according to Harvard professors Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt in their book "How Democracies Die" is that these feelings of mistrust exist across party lines, albeit for very different reasons.

Alesha Sedasey, recalling how she felt watching Bernie Sanders lose to Hillary Clinton in the 2016 primary, said, "That was when I lost a good amount of my faith in the system.

Sedasey is a bartender in Brooklyn, New York, who believes the will of the voters was thwarted in 2016 by superdelegates in the primary and again by the Electoral College in the general election.

"I don't think that any part of the election had democracy fulfilled," Sedasey said. "I mean, Trump didn't get the majority of votes, so how is that democracy, right?"

While Sedasey's doubts in the system are different from those expressed at the Capitol last year, the effect is very much the same.

"It's hard to trust Congress," Sedasey said.

Despite their differences, both Sedasey and Story see themselves as defenders of the same underlying principles they both see themselves as patriots.

"I think that I am a patriot because I'm fighting for what our constitutional rights are supposed to be and what this country says it is," Sedasey said.

And both say they'll continue to vote and even organize for their side.

"I still participate in it because I have faith that there is the possibility for change," Sedasey said.

"I vote, because I always vote, but I don't know that I'll trust 'em," Story said.

So, regardless of who wins in 2024, many voters maybe even most could once again doubt the results, raising the question of how our republic can withstand such a crisis.

"I'm very concerned," Story said. "I think we're at a pivotal point. I think that good people can't stand by and do nothing anymore."

When asked if the U.S. would be able to keep its record as the longest continuously operating democracy, Sedasey replied, "All empires fall."

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Democratic and Republican voters share a mistrust in the electoral process - CBS News

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A year after the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, one Texas Republican congressman is facing a spirited primary fueled by anger from his right over his vote to investigate the insurrection.

U.S. Rep. Van Taylor, R-Plano, has attracted a group of March primary challengers who are running on his support for a bipartisan independent commission to probe that deadly day, when supporters of former President Donald Trump stormed the Capitol in protest of his reelection loss.

Taylor was one of two Texas Republicans who voted for the commission, though the other, Rep. Tony Gonzales of San Antonio, has not drawn as crowded of a primary. The proposed commission never made it through the Senate, but House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., later formed a select committee to investigate the Capitol attack.

Taylor voted against that committee and says it was exactly the scenario he was trying to prevent by supporting the independent commission handing the probe over to Pelosi but his opponents are unswayed. They argue the commission still would have enabled Democrats to hound Republicans for months and politically damage them in the midterms.

Taylors vote for the commission is a huge issue, said one of the challengers, former Collin County Judge Keith Self. It is the red line for many people in their vote against Van Taylor.

The contested primary is something of a political whiplash for Taylor, a former state lawmaker with a staunchly conservative record who got to Congress in 2018 and became a target of national Democrats in 2020. He won comfortably, airing TV ads that touted himself as Mr. Bipartisan, and now finds himself in a district that was redrawn this fall to be redder and more fertile territory for primary opposition.

Zach Barrett, president of the Collin County Conservative Republicans, said it remains to be seen whether the commission vote alone is enough to sink Taylor. The local GOP group plans to endorse in the primary but has not made a decision yet.

For us in the little bubble of grassroots, [the commission vote] is a big thing, but I dont know in the grand scheme of things, when it comes to the average even Republican voter how much it matters, said Barrett. Hes voting right when it comes to the policies for the most part but he does piss people off with the Jan. 6 commission.

The insurrection on Jan. 6 came as lawmakers in the Capitol were meeting to certify the 2020 presidential election results. It followed weeks of Trump and other high-profile Republicans using false or misleading information to cast doubt on whether Joe Biden was the legitimate winner, even though there is no evidence of fraud on the level that would have affected the result. Trump supporters stormed the Capitol doors, damaging property and forcing lawmakers from both parties to take cover. Five people were killed in the melee. Hundreds have been criminally charged.

Since then, many conservative politicians have sought to downplay it. Just 35 House Republicans voted in favor of the commission. Two of them, U.S. Reps. Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger, now serve on a select committee looking into the events and have faced severe backlash from members of their own party and the former president himself.

Taylors opponents have also largely sought to downplay the Jan. 6 attack, arguing it was not as dangerous as Democrats and the media have portrayed it to be.

If that was an insurrection, we dont know how to throw insurrections anymore, Self said in a tongue-in-cheek comment.

Taylor was among only five Texas Republicans who voted that day to accept the 2020 election results, saying it would have set a dangerous precedent. He said the events of the day will haunt our nation for years to come and that the attack was destructive to the democracy I fought to defend as a Marine.

Still, he later joined most House Republicans in opposing Trumps impeachment over his role in inciting the riot.

In addition to Self, Taylors primary foes include Suzanne Harp, a Dallas businesswoman whose son is chief of staff to U.S. Rep. Madison Cawthorn, R-N.C. Two lesser-known Republicans, Rickey Williams and Jeremy Ivanovskis, are also running against Taylor.

Selfs campaign website says Taylor went Washington by supporting the commission. Harp launched her campaign saying Taylor abandoned Trump with the vote. And Williams lists the vote as a top issue to can Van.

Self was endorsed last month by a daughter of Taylors predecessor in the seat, the late Sam Johnson, who said her dads seat has been compromised.

Taylor is still the favorite in the primary for the 3rd Congressional District, which covers fast-growing Collin County in suburban Dallas. He ended 2021 with over $1.2 million cash on hand, according to his campaign his opponents have not had to disclose their fundraising yet and he has assembled a list of conservative endorsements topped by U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz.

While Trump has sought revenge against some Republicans who have criticized him over Jan. 6, he has stayed out of Taylors primary so far. Among Taylors endorsements is one of Trumps staunchest allies in the House, Rep. Ronny Jackson of Amarillo, the presidents former doctor.

Regardless, no other race in Texas this year seems to more reflect the debate within the GOP over the fallout from Jan. 6.

Harp said a bigger issue is the treatment of those who have been arrested in connection with the riot, which includes a number of North Texans.

What hits us all at the end of the day is that we really care about due process, she said. Its not really a Democratic or Republican thing.

Neither appears particularly concerned with investigating the attack. Asked how Congress should have responded to Jan. 6 if not with the commission that Taylor supported, Harp countered that Congress should have been more responsive to the summer of love, a derisive reference to the racial justice protests in 2020 that turned violent in some cases.

The commission that Taylor voted for would have been equally split between five Democrats and five Republicans. He cited that in explaining his vote at the time, saying he wanted to make sure Republicans would have a seat at the table and that they would not cede the probe to Democrats.

Taylor memorably defended the vote in an interview with Mark Davis, a prominent conservative radio host in Dallas, who expressed skepticism of Taylors reasoning throughout.

Everybody that voted for you is pissed off at you today, Van, Davis said, telling Taylor that he loves him but that it was a bad, bad vote.

While the commission was never created, Pelosis select committee has been up and running since July and making plenty of headlines as it scrutinizes how much of a role Trump and his allies played in the Capitol attack. Taylor opposed the creation of the committee, which he emphasized in a statement for this story.

The continued partisan attacks and unprecedented power grabs from Speaker Pelosi underscore why I voted against her January 6 select committee every time it came up for a vote, Taylor said. In fact, I supported the independent commission, which died in the Senate and was never formed, because it would have been structured with equal Republicans and Democrats so Republicans could block Nancy Pelosi from politicizing the commission in the same way she is doing now.

Self said the distinction between the commission that Taylor supported and the committee that is currently working does not occur to voters. In any case, he said, Taylor was naive because once Nancy Pelosi got a hold of that commission, she was going to and they are going to harass Republicans until November this year.

Whether the commission vote alone is enough to sink Taylor remains to be seen. His primary challengers are also attacking him on other fronts, including being one of five Texas Republicans to vote to remove all Confederate statues from public display at the U.S. Capitol.

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US Rep. Van Taylor faces heat over Jan. 6 investigation vote - The Texas Tribune

Supporters of former President Donald Trump stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. It was an effort to stop the procedural certification of a presidential election that Joe Biden won and Trump lost. The mob was egged on by conspiracies and Trump's lies about that 2020 election.

Those are facts. One year later, and a day after the commemoration on Capitol Hill of that attack, those facts should be indisputable.

And yet millions on the right do dispute them. They've been convinced by Trump, reinforced by right-wing media and enabled by Republican elected officials that his meritless lies about a stolen election are somehow true.

They are not. The independent judiciary, with many judges who were appointed by Republicans and Trump himself, as well as audits in state after state, have rejected Trump's false claims.

How did this happen? A couple of reasons:

The media landscape is fractured. Confirmation bias is real if people believe something, there's likely a link on social media that shows them why they're right (even when they aren't).

There's fertile ground for that landscape, as trust in the media has declined over the last few decades. It hit 32% just before the 2016 election, the lowest ever recorded by Gallup. (As of 2021, it was a similar 36%.)

The decline in mass media coincides with the advent of Fox News, the conservative cable channel. Fox was created in 1996, about when Gallup found a majority of Americans said they had trust in the media.

Now, there are even more and even more extreme voices and outlets on the right, rife with misinformation and disinformation, that are gaining traction.

An NPR/Ipsos poll released this week showed that a majority 54% whose primary source of news is Fox News or conservative media believe falsely that there was major voting fraud in the 2020 election.

When Trump first took office and was still allowed on Twitter, he would write lots of controversial things.

When Republicans in Congress were asked about them, the answer routinely was along the lines of, "I didn't read the tweet."

It became something of a joke. Actually, Paul Ryan, the GOP former House speaker, made the joke himself.

"Every morning, I wake up in my office and scroll Twitter to see which tweets I will have to pretend that I didn't see later," Ryan said in October 2017 at the annual Al Smith Dinner, which includes a political roast.

Six months later, Ryan announced he would not run for reelection.

Ryan and plenty of other Republicans had, during the 2016 presidential campaign, criticized Trump's views and behavior. But when he won, almost all GOP officials swallowed their criticism.

As Trump went largely unchallenged from his party, he demanded fealty from Republicans, they gave it to him, and his hold on the base grew.

So the path was paved early for Trump's lies as outlandish and baseless as they are to speed down the road to rank-and-file Republicans.

A similar trend has emerged this past year, since Jan. 6, as Republicans have largely avoided criticizing Trump's role and response to the insurrection.

"In many ways, except for a number of people who've emerged as true leaders, like [Rep.] Liz Cheney, [R-Wyo.], against their party interest, a lot of this is ink-blot politics," said Kevin Madden, a GOP strategist and former senior adviser on Mitt Romney's 2012 presidential campaign. "You see what you want to see on Jan. 6 based on your already-defined political persuasion."

House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy didn't mince words in his criticism of Trump days after the Jan. 6 insurrection.

"The president bears responsibility for Wednesday's attack on Congress by mob rioters," McCarthy said plainly a week after the siege. He had even called Trump on the day of the riot telling him to call off the insurrection.

But instead of keeping up the criticism and casting Trump aside, less than two weeks later, McCarthy flew down to Mar-a-Lago, Trump's Florida residence, and made amends. He released a statement and now-famous photo of the two of them, apparently having reconciled.

McCarthy wants to be the next House speaker and Republicans are favored to take back the House after the 2022 midterm elections.

In May, McCarthy came out against a bipartisan, 9/11-style commission to investigate the Jan. 6 attack. This week, in a letter to his GOP conference, McCarthy derided the "actions of that day," and said the "Capitol should never be compromised and those who broke the law deserve to face legal repercussions and full accountability."

But there was no mention of Trump and his responsibility. Instead, McCarthy accused Democrats of using Jan. 6 as a "partisan political weapon to further divide our country," and pivoted to criticizing Democrats for being "no closer to answering the central question of how the Capitol was left so unprepared and what must be done to ensure it never happens again."

McCarthy is just one example. Two weeks after the Jan. 6 attack, Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell went right after Trump.

And though McConnell in some instances has kept up his criticism of Trump, drawing attacks from the former president, McConnell's statement Thursday on the Jan. 6 anniversary mentioned nothing about Trump. Instead, he called Jan. 6 a "dark day," a "disgraceful scene" and also criticized Democrats.

"[I]t has been stunning to see some Washington Democrats try to exploit this anniversary to advance partisan policy goals," he said.

For Madden, Trump has this hold on the party base because Republican leaders aren't challenging him en masse.

"I think it's because he's directly communicating with the base and is really the only one," Madden said. "Everyone else is reacting to the Trump factor. ... Every force like Trump, where you to try and counter it, you'd have to do so relentlessly. Name one person who's done that."

Madden rattled off Republicans who might want to run for president in 2024, people like former Trump Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley.

"No one's taken him on directly," Madden said. "They've all been reactionary, and they've all ceded the rostrum to him."

Now, multiple surveys show Americans are sharply divided by party about what happened on Jan. 6.

For example, a December NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll found 9-in-10 Democrats described what happened that day as an insurrection and threat to democracy. Just 10% of Republicans did.

A recent YouGov survey conducted for Bright Line Watch showed only a quarter of Republicans said they believe Biden is the rightful winner of the 2020 election.

During the events commemorating the attack on the Capitol, barely any Republicans showed up. The only ones were Cheney and her father, former Vice President Dick Cheney.

"I'm deeply disappointed we don't have better leadership in the Republican Party to restore the Constitution," the elder Cheney said.

Let's just pause for a moment. That's Dick Cheney saying this.

On Thursday night, members of Congress gathered on the steps of the U.S. Capitol for a candlelight vigil to remember what happened a year ago.

But it was missing all those Republicans.

Imagine if all 535 members of Congress had been there and the message it would have sent about democracy's resilience.

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The immovable Republican Party and 'ink-blot politics' - Capital Public Radio News

Today marks the one-year anniversary of the January 6 Capitol insurrection, and The Views hosts took some time during todays episode to reflect upon the uncertain future of the Republican Party, and American democracy as a whole.

Sunny Hostin admitted that she doesnt feel that the figures responsible for the Capitol attacks have been held accountable, from Steve Bannon and Mark Meadows defying subpoenas to Attorney General Merrick Garland not criminally charging former President Donald Trump.

The Republican Party is supposed to be the party of law and order, she said. What happened to that? I am really just afraid that Jan. 6 was a test run, which we see all the time in other countries. A test run that may happen again.

As Hostin pointed out, prosecuting cases isnt just about accountability, either.

Its also about sending a message to the community about what will and will not be tolerated in a society, she added. What better message to send not only to our country, but to the world, that trying to attempt a coup is unacceptable in what many have called the greatest democracy in the world?

Guest host Ana Navarro applauded the speech that President Joe Biden gave today, in which he condemned the Capitol rioters and slammed Trump (who he referred to simply as the former president) for the role that his web of lies played in the event.

We cant stop talking about the truth, and about what happened, and erase history because part of America doesnt agree, or doesnt want to see what they saw with their own eyes, she said. I hope this is a day which lives in infamy for the rest of American history.

The View airs weekdays at 11/10c on ABC.

Where to watch The View

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'The View' Agonizes Over Republican Party on One Year Anniversary of Capitol Attacks - Decider

The New Hampshire state House has given final approval to new congressional district lines that would virtually ensure a Republican and a Democrat each win one of the Granite States two seats in Congress over the next decade.

In a near party-line vote, the state House approved new boundary lines that substantially redraw the current districts. The existing districts, both of which have been competitive over the past decade, are carved up into new versions that give both parties a strong chance of carrying one district each.

A single House Republican voted against the GOP-drawn maps. They now go to the state Senate, where Republicans also hold a majority. Gov. Chris SununuChris SununuNew Hampshire Republicans advance map with substantially redrawn districts New Hampshire secretary of state, guardian of primary, to retire The 10 races that will decide the Senate majority MORE (R) would likely sign the maps if they win final approval in their present form.

For nearly a century and a half, New Hampshires congressional lines have divided the state into a western and northern district, anchored in Concord and Nashua and stretching to the border with Canada, and an eastern district based in Manchester and the Seacoast. The two districts were initially drawn that way to divide Nashua and Manchester, the states two largest cities and the twin hubs of Catholic voters to deny Catholic voters the right to elect a member to Congress.

In more recent years, Democrats have won nine of the last 10 elections in those two seats, though Republicans won 16 of the 20 elections held under largely similar district lines in the 1990s and 2000s. Former President TrumpDonald TrumpJan. 6 brings Democrats, Cheneys together with GOP mostly absent ProPublica reporter says movement to target government, political opponents had been rising prior to Jan. 6 attack Briahna Joy Gray: Biden going to 'pay the piper' for inaction during midterms MORE carried the Manchester-based district in 2016, though President BidenJoe BidenBiden hopes for big jobs number on Friday Jan. 6 brings Democrats, Cheneys together with GOP mostly absent Equilibrium/Sustainability Climate, democracy emergenciesindivisible MORE won both the 1st and 2nd districts, by a 6-point and 8-point margin respectively, in 2020.

Republicans pointed to those election results as evidence that New Hampshires current district lines disadvantage their party.

While the minority of the committee speaks of fairness of the current districts, they have won 90 percent of the contests under the current map, state Rep. Ross Berry, the GOPs chief redistricting expert, said during debate on Wednesday.

The new maps advanced by the state House would move several more Democratic-heavy communities along New Hampshires eastern border with Maine, including coastal Portsmouth, Dover and Durham, from the Manchester-based district and include them in the Nashua-based seat.

The resulting district lines would likely solidify Rep. Annie Kusters (D) hold on the Nashua-based seat. Data from the nonpartisan Princeton Gerrymandering Project estimates Kusters district would give Democrats an average of 53 percent of the vote in a regular election.

The Manchester-based seat would become a more heavily Republican bastion, where Democrats would average 43.6 percent of the vote, according to Princetons data. That would jeopardize Rep. Chris PappasChristopher (Chris) Charles PappasNew Hampshire Republicans advance map with substantially redrawn districts Chris Pappas launches reelection bid in New Hampshire Top House Democratic group launches six-figure ad campaign to sell infrastructure package MORE (D), who won his seat in 2018. Pappas won reelection in 2020 over Matt Mowers, a former Trump administration official, by 5 percentage points.

Democrats cast the new district lines as a naked gerrymander, one that overturns decades of established practice and eliminates a chance at competitive elections that have been the hallmark of the swing state in recent years.

The pending question sets up districts in order to predetermine the outcome of the election, and therefore deny the voters of this state the opportunity to decide for themselves, state Rep. Marjorie Smith (D) said during the floor debate on Wednesday.

Mowers is one of a handful of Republicans who have already lined up to take on Pappas, who launched a reelection bid last month. He will compete with Gail Huff Brown, the former television news reporter and wife of former Sen. Scott Brown (R-Mass.), who served as Trumps ambassador to New Zealand. State Rep. Tim Baxter (R) is also running.

The new maps are one of the most significant departures from tradition that have taken place in this decades redistricting cycle, given New Hampshires long history of an east-west divide. The overwhelmingly white makeup of New Hampshires population likely limits the chances national Democrats would have to sue to undo the newly proposed lines in court.

The maps passed by the New Hampshire House today are clear partisan gerrymanders, said Liz Wester, deputy states director at the National Democratic Redistricting Committee, a group run by former Attorney General Eric HolderEric Himpton HolderNew Hampshire Republicans advance map with substantially redrawn districts Michigan redistricting spat exposes competing interests in Democratic coalition Democrats decry gerrymandering unless they control the maps MORE. Instead of adhering to the will of the people, New Hampshire Republicans have decided to join the bandwagon with their partisan colleagues across the country to attempt a power grab by taking competitive districts off the map.

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Texas Sen. Ted Cruz believes there is a possibility that Republicans in the House of Representatives could try to impeach President Joe Biden after the 2022 midterm elections.

I do think theres a chance of that. Whether its justified or not the Democrats weaponized impeachment. They used it for partisan purposes to go after Trump because they disagreed with him, Cruz said on his podcast, referring to former President Donald Trump.

Cruz was asked about impeachment proceedings under the condition the GOP wins control of the House after the 2022 midterm elections. On several occasions in the interview, Cruz scolded Democrats for, in his view, using impeachment proceedings in recent years as a tool in the partisan war chest.

See also: Manchin says no negotiation happening on Build Back Better

Articles of impeachment have been passed by the House multiple times over the past 40 years, including twice against Trump and once against President Bill Clinton. Neither president was subsequently removed from office by the Senate.

Its worth noting that Cruz is not a member of the House, the chamber of Congress that would start impeachment proceedings. It isnt clear whether Cruzs thoughts have merit with potential members of the House, but impeachment requires a simple majority vote, which is 50% plus one more.

Now read: Biden, Harris to speak on anniversary of January 6 attack on U.S. Capitol

The comments come as a recent USA Today/Suffolk University Poll detailed that 51% of Americans are very worried about the future of Americas democracy in the wake of the one-year anniversary of the Jan. 6 insurrection on the U.S. Capitol.

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Ted Cruz says there's a 'chance' a Republican House could try to impeach Biden - MarketWatch