Category Archives: Republican

Over the long weekend, Gallup released a poll that sent a shock wave through Democratic circles: There's been a 14 point swing in party preference from Democratic to Republican in the past year. While 49% of Americans leaned Democratic and 40% leaned Republican in January 2021, at the beginning of 2022, the parties have nearly reversed positions. Now 47% of Americans prefer Republicans while a mere 42% prefer Democrats.

From one angle, it makes sense. The COVID-19 pandemic continues to be the dominant political issue, and President Joe Biden is getting blamed for it, even though the real cause is Republican pundits and politicians convincing their followers to bedisease vectors in order to sabotage Biden'spresidency. The ongoing failure of Democrats to pass any of Biden's political priorities can't be helping, either, especially as the result is a drumbeat of headlines about Biden failing.

But it still is stunningto see this dramatic swing, for one major reason: The Republicans are actively trying to destroy democracy. Worse, there was a high-profile assault on the Capitol a mere year ago that should, by any reasonable measure, illustrate the profoundly fascistic leanings of the current GOP.

RELATED:One year later, mainstream media still doesn't see Jan. 6 attack as racial

The implicit and sometimes explicit support for the insurrection by Republicans is obvious to the politically aware. Not only does the Republican Party continue to cover up Donald Trump's role in inciting the riot, but the party nationwide is acting on Trump's demands to help him steal the 2024 election through voter suppression and election interference. Meanwhile, prominent Republican figures continue to promote political violence, while Trump is the strong favorite for the GOP nomination2024, with an overtly insurrectionist campaign built around his Big Lie.

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The problem is that the voters who are swinging hard to the GOP know basically none of this. Instead, they assume that the Republicans are a normal political party. There are lots of people to blame for this, of course. Biden and Democrats didn't do themselves any favors by spending the past year talking up "unity" and "bipartisanship," instead of focusing like a laser on the fact that the GOP is actively conspiring with Trump to cover up for January 6 and perpetuate his war on democracy. The media also plays a role, exhibiting anunwillingness to challenge Republicans directly about their anti-democratic ideology.

But, ultimately, the biggest problem is the utter lack of accountability for any of the prominent Republicans involved in Jan. 6. NeitherTrump nor any Republican leader has been arrestedfor theirefforts to steal the election that led up to the Capitol riot. So far, the only people who have been arrested for the Capitol insurrection have been the people who actually stormed the building or far-right militia types who coordinated their actionsthat day. So that ends up reinforcing the impression, especially with people who don't follow the news very closely, that the riot was a result of a bunch of self-directed fringe characters, and has nothing to do with the mainstream Republican Party. Unless the cuffs start coming out for Trump and his fellow elite Republicans, it will be hard to convince these voters to see the insurrection as anything but an anomalous event, instead of partof a larger anti-democratic conspiracy.

RELATED:Democrats hit the panic button. Is it too little too late for Joe Biden?

Focus group data confirms this. As McClatchy reporter Alex Roarty explained last week in a tweet thread, swing voters simply don't see January 6 as a "big deal" and talk about it as a "tragedy," as if it was a weather event, instead of what it was, a partisan political effort to overthrow an election. Participants in the focus groups repeatedly talked about the Capitol riot as if Democrats were exaggerating when they talk about thatday or its implications.

In one focus group, however, oneparticipant linked the attack to the larger assault on democracy and, crucially, expressed concern that the people behind the attack weren't facing justice. After that, the tone of the group switched to genuine concern for democracy. Participants, Roarty explained, then expressed"a desire to find person responsible for attack." Without that, however, connecting the attack to the GOP didn't make sense to them.

This comports with findings of other focus groups. One conducted by Axios found that swing votersthink the jury is still out on who is to blame for the Capitol insurrection, though they repeatedly expressed interest in finding out through legal investigation. Another, held by the New York Times, found that even though the Democratic voterstook the Capitol insurrection seriously, they expressed frustration "that those responsible for the events on Jan. 6 had not been brought to justice." Even some Republicans called the event "scary," but again, as the only people being arrested for it are the small-timers, they can tell themselves a story about how it has nothing to do with the mainstream GOP.

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The logic of the typical low information voterisn't all that hard to parse: If Trump and other Republicans had actually tried to commit a coup, then why aren't they in jail for it? It's a serious crime, after all. The lack of arrests sends a strong signal that it must not be that important. Most people tend to consume a lot more "Law and Order" than they do investigative pieces by the Washington Post. They likely won't read the umpteenth investigative piece on thiscomplex coup. They would, however, notice Trump and GOP members of Congress getting arrested.

Last week, there were some high profile charges of Stewart Rhodes and other members of the Oath Keepers for "seditious conspiracy" for their part in the January 6 riot. As some commentators pointed out, this undermines efforts from Republican pundits to deny that the attack was an insurrection. However, it does little to dissuade swing voters from viewing the events of that day as driven by an otherwise powerless right-wing fringe. Rhodes has a past as a congressional staffer and a judicial clerk, but he deliberately dresses like he's a wild-eyed militiaman, helping reinforce the false narrative that he and his fellows have no real relationship to mainstream Republican politics.

RELATED:Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes charged with seditious conspiracy for Jan. 6 role

Democrats can make speeches blamingTrump and other Republicans for the insurrection, but they can't make skeptical swing voters believe them. On the contrary, such voters tend to be the first to ascribe cynical and self-serving motives to political speech, and see such sentiments as empty rhetoric if they aren't backed up by action. In political media, there tends to be a lot of hand-wringing concern about how charging GOP leadership that was involved in the coup with crimes could be read as "political." For ordinary voters who pay little attention to politics, the opposite is true: The lack of charges reads as evidence that there's nothing to charge Trump and his coup conspirators with. They seepolitical rhetoric blaming Republicans as therefore partisan hyperbole.

To be certain, things could change. There are some hints that the Department of Justice(DOJ) is not ignoring the role of Trump and other high-level Republicans in the insurrection, and Salon's own Brian Karem reports that sources in the DOJ suggest there's even a conspiracy investigation into Trump. The January 6 committee, meanwhile, keeps turning up more information that could, in theory, lead to Trump's prosecution.

But, by definition, low information voters aren't going to get into the weeds on this sort of thing. They glance at the headlines, see Trump is still free, and assume therefore thathe didn't do anything worth arresting him over. They continue to view him as a jackass and not a criminal. Unfortunately, "jackass" is someone that a lot of people will vote for, as previous elections and current polls showing Trump neck-in-neck with Biden demonstrate. Without the public perp walk, a significant number of people won't see Trump as the mastermind behind Jan. 6. So Democrats will continue to fail to paint Republicans as the authoritarian insurrectionists they actually are.

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Why voters don't blame Republicans for the Capitol riot no GOP leaders have been arrested yet - Salon

Glenn Youngkin waves to the crowd at his inauguration on Saturday Jan. 15, in Richmond, Va. Scott Elmquist/VPM hide caption

Glenn Youngkin waves to the crowd at his inauguration on Saturday Jan. 15, in Richmond, Va.

Businessman Glenn Youngkin was sworn in as the 74th governor of Virginia on Saturday in Richmond, the first Republican to hold the office in nearly a decade.

"No matter who you voted for, I pledge to be your advocate, your voice, your governor," Youngkin said in his inaugural speech, offering a message of unity that, at times, was absent from the campaign. "Our politics have become too toxic. Soundbites have replaced solutions taking precedence over good faith problem-solving."

But during his speech, the crowd was loudest, and many stood on their feet, when Youngkin spoke about "removing politics from the classroom." On the campaign trail, he frequently talked about parents' rights to say what is taught in school.

Two history-making Republicans also took the oath of office. Former state Delegate Jason Miyares was sworn in as attorney general, the first Latino elected to statewide office. And former state Delegate Winsome Sears is now lieutenant governor, the first Black woman to hold that title.

Youngkin began leaving his mark shortly after the inauguration when he signed several executive orders. His first executive order bans what he calls "divisive concepts" including critical race theory from teacher diversity trainings, as well as "all guidelines, websites, best practices, and other materials" produced by Virginia's Department of Education, and orders a review of school curriculum for CRT-related content. Youngkin campaigned heavily on the notion that school equity programs designed to address systemic racism had gone too far. Critics noted CRT does not appear in Virginia's K-12 curricula and accused Youngkin of stoking racial resentment.

Another order attempts to fast-track Virginia's removal from a regional carbon cap-and-trade program. Youngkin also ordered an end to a mask mandate for public schools and scrapped a vaccine or weekly testing mandate for state employees put in place by outgoing Gov. Ralph Northam. Several school districts, including Arlington and Richmond, said they would keep their mask mandates in place.

Carl Tobias, a law professor at the University of Richmond, says some of the policies were likely to be met with legal challenges.

"I think he's pushing the envelope," Tobias says. "And I think the General Assembly will be unhappy with some of it, too."

Youngkin's victory in November shocked Democrats who after President Biden's 10-point margin in the state were hoping former Gov. Terry McAuliffe would be able to return to the governor's mansion and continue the party's grip on an office.

But Youngkin's campaign turned out many voters in rural Virginia and made inroads in suburban areas of the state. The former private equity CEO framed his lack of political experience as an asset.

In addition to seizing control of all three statewide offices, Republicans also hold a 52-48 majority in the House of Delegates after flipping seven seats in the 100-member chamber. During their brief time in the majority, Democrats raised the minimum wage, abolished the death penalty, expanded access to voting and legalized marijuana.

Republicans are hoping to work with the new governor to roll back some of the more progressive elements of those new laws. But they'll have to cajole or compromise with Democrats in the state Senate, where Democrats still hold a 21-19 edge, with broader margins on key committees.

Republican Winsome Sears waves to supporters just before taking the oath of office for lieutenant governor in Richmond on Saturday. Scott Elmquist/VPM hide caption

Republican Winsome Sears waves to supporters just before taking the oath of office for lieutenant governor in Richmond on Saturday.

Youngkin will also have to face an issue that he didn't talk about on the campaign trail: figuring out how Virginia's new marijuana industry will work. Democrats legalized marijuana in small amounts, but the system for retail sales still hasn't been established.

Youngkin's cabinet includes a mix of political newcomers as well as veterans of state and federal government, including staffers who worked under former President Donald Trump. That includes natural resources secretary nominee Andrew Wheeler, a former coal lobbyist and administrator of Trump's Environmental Protection Agency who rolled back protections passed by former President Barack Obama.

Wheeler's nomination sparked immediate outcry among Senate Democrats in Virginia, who are hoping to block his nomination. The fight over Wheeler's nomination could be an early test of Youngkin's ability to work his way through delicate political situations. Youngkin has so far ignored those protests, calling Wheeler "incredibly qualified" in an interview with member station VPM on Tuesday.

Northam, the outgoing Democrat, has said he's unlikely to run for office again. He faced widespread calls to resign in February 2019 after reporters surfaced a racist photo on his medical school yearbook page. Northam ultimately denied he was in the photo, stood down those calls and went on to sign sweeping policy changes pushed by Democratic majorities. The pediatric neurologist is set to resume seeing patients on Monday.

Ben Paviour covers state politics for member station VPM; Michael Pope works as a reporter for Virginia Public Radio.

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Republican Glenn Youngkin is sworn in as the governor of Virginia - NPR

After President Joe Biden delivered a speech imploring the Senate to pass a voting-rights bill, an angry Mitt Romney took to the Senate floor to denounce him. Biden accused a number of my good and principled colleagues in the Senate of having sinister, even racist inclinations, he complained. (Imagine! Racists! In the Republican Party! In this day and age!)

But more troubling, Romney continued, was Bidens description of Republican voting restrictions as part of a scheme to turn the will of the voters into a mere suggestion. Here Romney unsheathed his sharpest insult, comparing Biden to Donald Trump: And so, President Biden goes down the same tragic road taken by President Trump casting doubt on the reliability of American elections.

Romney speaks for an important faction of Republican elites who may abhor Trumps naked authoritarianism (either openly, like Romney, or more often in private) but also believe fervently in their partys policy of voter suppression. Romneys position holds the pivotal point in the U.S. Senate: Anti-Trump, pro-voter-suppression Republicans like him are the key impediment to passing any voting-rights bills.

The Trump strain and the Romney strain have crucial differences. Trump is willing to support almost any measure, legal or extralegal, in order to maintain power. Romney abhors violence and venerates rule-following but shares Trumps belief that the franchise is more privilege than a right, and supports his partys blizzard of voting impediments to keep the Democratic hordes at bay.

Romneys allies in the Republican partys non-insurrectionary wing see their stance as the antithesis of Trumpism. What they seem unable to grasp is the degree to which his crude and even violent brand of authoritarianism is a product of their refined elitist version.

Traditional Republicans generally subscribe to some or all of the following three propositions:

First, Democrats habitually engage in wide-scale, undetected vote fraud, especially in large cities. (A leading congressional Republican once confided at an off-the-record event that he doubted the legitimacy of Bill Clintons 1996 election, which Clinton won by 8.5 percent of the vote, owing to presumptive vote-padding.)

Second, even if the votes are technically legal, the geographically concentrated nature of Democratic voting reduces its legitimacy. This is a belief expressed by the ubiquitous conflation of maps showing red occupying most land space with Republican majorities. This belief is the only way to make sense of otherwise bizarre comments, like Robin Vos,the Republican Speaker of the Wisconsin State Assembly, casually asserting, If you took Madison and Milwaukee out of the state-election formula, we would have a clear majority.

And third, elections would be better if the electorate was refined by winnowing out uninformed or unmotivated voters. Conservative pundits proudly and openly write lines like this, from National Review in 2016: We must weed out ignorant Americans from the electorate. And Republicans occasionally blurt out comments like this, by the Republican chair of Arizonas Government and Elections Committee: Everybody shouldnt be voting Not everybody wants to vote, and if somebody is uninterested in voting, that probably means that theyre totally uninformed on the issues. Quantity is important, but we have to look at the quality of votes, as well.

These convictions inspire voting restrictions that bring together pro-Trump and Trump-skeptical Republicans alike. Republicans, with little to no intraparty dissent, have passed laws to winnow the electorate of voters who are either illegal or, in Republican eyes, undeserving. These measures include reducing the hours of voting or the locations where votes can be cast, requiring voters to jump through bureaucratic hoops (separate registration and acquiring papers or identification, often at different buildings open only during working hours), or even (in Florida) to pay back fines in order to vote.

One indication of the depth of Republican unanimity on voting restriction is their complete unwillingness to entertain any protections against abusive voter suppression. In November, Senator Joe Manchin proposed a compromise voting-rights bill. His plan would have allowed voter identification requirements, but required states to allow an array of legitimate acceptable identification, including utility bills. (States like Texas recognize gun permits, but not student identification, as legitimate ID.) It would combine automatic vote registration with measures to clean up voting rolls, make Election Day a national holiday, let volunteers provide water and snacks to voters waiting in long lines, accept provisional ballots from registered voters who appear at the wrong precinct, and other modest proposals to make voting less burdensome.

The only Senate Republican to show any interest in Manchins compromise is barely-a-Republican Lisa Murkowski. The rest of the caucus has taken the view that restricting the electorate as it sees fit is a matter of states rights.

It is important to understand that many Republican advocates of voter suppression hold Trump in at least equal contempt as advocates of voting rights. Georgia governor Brian Kemp may represent the archetype of the anti-Trump vote suppressor. In 2018, while simultaneously running for his office and serving in a job overseeing elections as secretary of State, Kemp closed 200 polling locations, primarily in minority neighborhoods, and purged hundreds of thousands of people from the voting rolls, many of the victims merely for failing to cast a vote in the previous election.

Its impossible to tell whether these restrictions played a decisive role in his narrow win. (Precisely how many people were deterred from voting, and how many of them would have voted for his opponent, is a matter of conjecture.) But Kemp was perfectly clear beforehand that he saw minority turnout as a primary threat to his success, telling supporters, You know the Democrats are working hard, and all these stories about them, you know, registering all these minority voters that are out there and others that are sitting on the sidelines, if they can do that, they can win these elections in November.

Yet Kemp also bravely defied Trumps efforts to undo the 2020 election results in the state, making himself a target of a Trump-backed primary that threatens to end his career. Its important to understand that many advocates of these laws hold Trump and liberal supporters of voting rights in at least equal contempt. From their standpoint, they occupy the midpoint between two equally noxious populist threats: to their left, Democrats who would open the floodgates to illegal or unqualified voters and delegitimize any outcome those restrictions produced, and to their right, Trump supporters who push to overturn elections Democrats win in spite of Republican-designed voting restrictions.

None of these Republicans seem to have contemplated how their assumptions about Democratic perfidy directly inspired Trumps response. Trumps most powerful appeal to the Republican base has always been to cast the partys leadership as weak losers who passively accept defeat.

If Its Not Close, They Cant Cheat is the title of a book by conservative talk-show host Hugh Hewitt. The book is not dedicated to uncovering Democratic vote fraud it provides barely a wisp of evidence for any but, rather, assumes its pervasive existence as a starting point. Hewitt reasoned that, since Republicans cant stop Democrats from cheating at the polls, their best recourse is to win elections by overwhelming margins. That book came out in 2004, before Republicans responded to Barack Obamas election by emphasizing vote-suppression measures. Two years later, he wrote a book making the case for Romney as the partys presidential nominee.

Trumpism offers a more intuitive response to the assumptions Republicans like Hewitt have long held. If it is true that Democrats always cheat, why should Republicans have to win by huge margins every time? Why not fight fire with fire?

The approach to elections of a Romney or a Kemp is not as dangerous as Trumps, not by a long shot. It is, at least, peaceful and stable, lacking the reckless Trump lurch into total systemic collapse virtues we cannot take for granted. But it also falls far short of the democratic ideal Americans have taught themselves as a shared creed. You might even call it sinister.

Analysis and commentary on the latest political news from New York columnist Jonathan Chait.

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Republican Voting-Rights Opponents May Be Better Than Trumpists, But Theyre Not Good - New York Magazine

After effectively shutting down his campaign finance operation following the Capitol riot, Mr. Trump fired it back up the day of his speech to the Conservative Political Action Conference. He raised nearly $3.5 million online that day, federal records show a one-day haul not approached by any G.O.P. politician or committee in the first half of 2021.

The money is as powerful a measure of his influence as his polling.

By early summer, Mr. Trump was almost single-handedly matching the entire Republican Party apparatus online. The R.N.C., plus the House and Senate campaign committees, raised a combined $2.34 million online in the last five days of June. Mr. Trumps committees raised $2.29 million.

The party continues to rely heavily on pro-Trump messages to motivate online supporters. The R.N.C., meanwhile, has agreed to foot up to $1.6 million of Mr. Trumps personal legal bills.

The events of Jan. 6 have not been without consequences for Mr. Trump. The former president initially planned to hold a news conference on the anniversary, but abruptly withdrew on Tuesday on the advice of allies and advisers that it would backfire.

And while Mr. Trump remains popular with Republicans, recent 2024 primary polls show potential vulnerability, even as he now outpaces the field handily. In a sign of fatigue even among his supporters, a notable share of Republicans say they would prefer he not run again, as many as 40 percent in a Marquette Law School Poll in November. That survey also showed 73 percent of independents prefer he not run.

Some Republicans, such as Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida, who has consistently polled a distant second to Mr. Trump, have avoided saying whether they would not run if Mr. Trump does.

Others, most notably Chris Christie, the former governor of New Jersey, have said Mr. Trumps decision will not affect their own. Mr. Christie, a former adviser who broke with Mr. Trump after Jan. 6, has emerged as one of the few prominent Republicans pushing back on Mr. Trumps deceptions about the 2020 election.

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Why Trumps Hold on the G.O.P. Is Unrivaled After the Capitol Riot - The New York Times

In a statement, Senator Mitt Romney, the former Massachusetts governor, praised what he called the heroic efforts of law enforcement officers who protected the Capitol and delivered a veiled dig at Trump.

Romney was one of seven Republicans who voted to impeach Trump in his historic second impeachment trial for his role in the insurrection.

We ignore the lessons of January 6 at our own peril, Romney said. Democracy is fragile; it cannot survive without leaders of integrity and character who care more about the strength of our Republic than about winning the next election.

Former vice president Dick Cheney, whose daughter Republican Representative Liz Cheney has led the House committee investigating the attack and been among the partys few outspoken critics of Trump, said the anniversary of the attack was an important historical event.

He told ABC that he was deeply disappointed we dont have better leadership in the Republican Party to restore the Constitution.

In a statement, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said Jan. 6 was a dark day for Congress and our country, adding he was grateful as ever for the brave men and women of the U.S. Capitol Police who served our institution bravely for that day and every day since. In the statement, which did not name Trump, the Kentucky Republican criticized Washington Democrats who he said are trying to exploit this anniversary to advance partisan policy goals that long predated this event.

It is especially jaw-dropping to hear some Senate Democrats invoke the mobs attempt to disrupt our countrys norms, rules, and institutions as a justification to discard our norms, rules, and institutions themselves, the statement continued.

South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham took to Twitter to criticize Biden after his speech for his brazen politicization of January 6.

Graham used the opportunity to reference the United States chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan in which 13 troops were killed in a suicide bombing at Kabuls airport as they attempted to evacuate American allies and Afghan citizens.

The statements issued on the anniversary of the riot marked a departure from the way some Republican members of Congress behaved in the hours following the attack, when they did not shy away from criticizing Trump and his role in inciting the violence. In the months since the riot, many Republican members of Congress have sought to rewrite the events of that day.

After order was restored at the Capitol, Graham notably took to the Senate floor to deliver a speech in which he said Trump bears responsibility for the attack, and he attempted to distance himself from the then-president.

Count me out, enough is enough, Graham said.

In the days following the insurrection, McConnell said on the Senate floor that the mob was fed lies, and that they were provoked by the president and other powerful people, and they tried to use fear and violence to stop a specific proceeding of the first branch of the federal government, which they did not like.

In a speech in February, McConnell said Trump was morally responsible for the attack.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said during a press conference on Thursday that Jan. 6 is Christmas for the media and accused journalists based in Washington, D.C., and New York as being obsessed with the attack.

They are going to take this and milk this for anything they could to try to be able to smear anyone, whoever supported Donald Trump, DeSantis said.

See more reactions from Republican members of Congress here:

Amanda Kaufman can be reached at amanda.kaufman@globe.com. Follow her on Twitter @amandakauf1.

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Republicans reactions to Jan. 6 anniversary ranged from somber to flippant. Heres a look - The Boston Globe

Media top headlines January 6

In media news today, an MSNBC reporter warns that Republicans in state legislature are passing voting laws that make 'January 6 every day, a CNN medical guest says that companies should not treat the unvaccinated and vaccinated as equal, and a White House reporter asks Jen Psaki why Biden hasnt focused more on scolding the unvaccinated.

MSNBC anchor Chuck Todd grew heated with a Republican guest Thursday for speaking out against President Trump's 2020 election rhetoric but saying he would support him again as the 2024 nominee.

Amid his network's wall-to-wall coverage of the one-year anniversary of the Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021, Todd noted Rep. Tom Reed, R-N.Y., was one of only 60 House Republicans who weren't on the Jan. 6 commission who had accepted his invitation to speak on "MTP Daily."

Reed, who is retiring at the end of the year, said it was incumbent on both sides of the aisle to lead and "rightfully condemn" the sort of extremism on display when pro-Trump rioters stormed the Capitol building and disrupted the official certification of Joe Biden's 2020 victory. Biden blasted Trump in a speech Thursday commemorating the anniversary of the riot for spreading a "web of lies," while Trump reiterated his rigged election claims and said Biden was further dividing the country.

Chuck Todd interviews Rep. Tom Reed, R-N.Y., on Jan. 6, 2022.

ARI FLEISCHER: KAMALA HARRIS' 9/11 COMPARISON ABSURD BUT ALL SHOULD DENOUNCE WHAT HAPPENED ON JAN. 6

As Todd pointed to efforts by Trump to overturn the election results, Reed responded that the "74 million people" who voted for Trump were not the ones who stormed the building.

"What happened was a vocal minority of extremists took it into their own thought process and power to do what they did, and to me that is what has to be objected to," he said. "And what has to happen is we have to stand up to it on the right, and you have to have leaders that will stand up to it on the left."

Todd, who has been criticized by progressives at times for being insufficiently partisan on the left-leaning network, asked Reed if he regretted co-chairing Trump's presidential campaign. When Reed said he didn't, Todd quickly said, "Why?"

"I dont, because he brought the disruption to Washington, D.C., that needs to be brought. Washington, D.C., the establishment, and the status quo needs to be disrupted," Reed said, adding he disagreed with some of Trump's rhetoric and actions.

EX-NEW YORK TIMES COLUMNIST NICHOLAS KRISTOF DECLARED INELIGIBLE TO RUN FOR GOVERNOR OF OREGON

"Are you willing to hand the keys to the democracy to this man again?" Todd asked.

Todd said if Trump was the Republican nominee again in 2024, he would support him, leading an incredulous Todd to quote Trump's statement Thursday following Biden's blistering address.

President Biden speaks from Statuary Hall at the U.S. Capitol to mark one year since the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol by supporters loyal to then-President Donald Trump, Thursday, Jan. 6, 2022, in Washington. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik) (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

"Hes calling the 2020 election a crime. Do you believe it was a crime?" Todd asked.

"Chuck, that will be part of the process. If hes elected hes going to have to go through the primary process, and the Republican Party will put its standard-bearer onto the line. I believe at the end of the day were going to have enough voices in that conversation, that that type of rhetoric will be held to account, and I think that will discount the ability for an individual to be the standard-bearer for the Republican Party," Reed said.

An increasingly exasperated Todd said Reed sounded like Republicans who are "afraid" of telling their supporters Trump was lying about the 2020 election.

LINDSEY GRAHAM SAYS IT WOULD HAVE BEEN EASY FOR TERRORISTS TO INFILTRATE JAN. 6 CAPITOL RIOT

"I will be very clear with you, Chuck," he said. "I believe the election in 2020 was a duly held election, the results were duly certified and the challenges of fraud were given an opportunity to be vetted, and I will tell you that this big lie type of representation I disagree with, and Im saying that right now, but that doesnt mean you go forward and not look at the next election in a way that says we need to learn from 2020. And so in 2024, Republicans are just as good at getting their vote to the ballot box as the Democrats are, so we have a fair shake in 2024 on an even playing field."

Pressed by Todd on what he meant by "fair," Reed reiterated 2020 was a fair election, but claimed the rule changes implementedamid the coronavirus pandemic played into Democrats' hands, and they were more effective in getting out their voters.

"It sounds like youre trying to put an asterisk on the 2020 election which only feeds this conspiracy nonsense that is wrecking this country," Todd said heatedly. "Why did we have what we had here a year ago was this conspiratorial nonsense that leads people to the idea that there was something to this. There was nothing to this."

President Donald Trump waves as he boards Marine One on the South Lawn of the White House, on Jan. 20. 2021. (AP)

"Its not conspiracy. They control the state legislatures, they changed the rules legally," Reed said. "So it was a legal, fair election. However, that doesnt mean the rules weren't maximized by one party over the other party. Thats what Im saying going into 2024. We need to make sure that we understand the rules as a Republican Party, and we use them fully to our advantage going forward in 2024, so that we're deploying the same assets in an election equally on each side of the aisle."

"Does it bother you at all that the Republican Party is no longer a conservative party but a cult of personality right now?" Todd asked.

"I mean, I disagree with that assessment I still believe in the Republican Party. The ideology of the Republican Party is still strong," Reed said. "Its a Republican Party that I believe in, and that philosophy is whats going to see America through, through the future, and I still believe America is a center-right country."

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Coverage of the Jan. 6 anniversary has been marked by Democrats pushing to pass federal election overhaul bills, as they and some media outlets continue to characterize state voting bills passed in Republican-led states as voter suppression efforts.

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MSNBC's Chuck Todd grows heated with Republican guest on 1/6 anniversary for still supporting Trump - Fox News

Elder GOP statesman and onetime party bugbear Dick Cheney was one of two Republicans present at Capitol Hill on Thursday to commemorate the anniversary of the Jan. 6 insurrectionthe other being his daughter, Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY). A former House member who served from 1979 to 1989, Cheney exercised his lifetime floor privileges to say the importance of the historic day cannot be overstated. Roughly 30 other Democrats attended the pro forma House session Thursday, many of whom lined up to shake hands with the former vice president and chat with him. Asked about his partys leadership, Cheney expressed that he was deeply disappointed in the way top Republicans have acted in the fallout of the attack on the Capitol. The party brass, he added, did not resemble any of the folks I knew when I was here for 10 years. When questioned about Republicans treatment of the embattled Rep. Cheney, who has been feuding with her party for the last year, Dick Cheney replied, My daughter can take care of herself.

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Dick and Liz Cheney Were the Only Republicans at the House's Jan. 6 Ceremony - The Daily Beast

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

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