Yesterday was an embarrassing day to be an American, but an even more embarrassing day to be a Republican.
Too stubborn to admit he lost the presidential election, our Republican president whipped his supporters into a frenzy and sent them to the U.S. Capitol, where scores of rioters attacked law enforcement and forced their way into the building. One woman was shot and killed inside by law enforcement. Three others died during the chaos, police revealed on Thursday.
Despite this, several of President Trump’s allies remained committed to the president’s election fantasy. Sens. Josh Hawley and Ted Cruz moved forward with their objections to the Electoral College’s certification, even though several of the Republican senators who had planned to join them changed their minds. Hundreds of House Republicans did the same and took to the House floor to spread Trump’s lies — the very same lies that brought us to where we are now.
The worst part is there was no point to any of it. Hawley said he was objecting in order to kick-start a conversation about voting irregularities and election fraud. But when it was his turn to speak, he gave up his speaking time and allowed the process to move forward. If his concerns about the election had been legitimate and substantial, Hawley would have done what he said he was going to do and force the Senate to debate the election. But he didn’t, because his concerns were never legitimate nor substantial; they were performative.
More evidence of this posturing came when it was time for senators to certify or object to Georgia’s results. For weeks, Trump’s Republican allies in Congress have attacked Georgia’s officials for corrupting the state’s election. Even two of Georgia’s senators, Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue, joined the pile-on because that’s what Trump wanted. But when Georgia’s election results appeared before the Senate, not one senator objected.
That’s because none of it was true. Trump’s election conspiracies were nothing more than the delusions of an angry man whose pride had been wounded. Yet Republicans encouraged him because the political cost of opposing him was too great and because the hope that they would one day inherit his base was too alluring.
This is what Cruz, Hawley, and every single other Republican who stood by Trump ought to be remembered for: When people needed to hear the truth, these Republicans fed them lies for their own personal gain. When the GOP needed a show of unity after the chaos in the Capitol, these Republicans chose one man’s wishes over their party’s principles. And this is the cost: four people dead, a political party in tatters, and a nation deeply divided.
If this is what the Republican Party has become, I want nothing more to do with it. And I’m sure I’m not the only one.
