GOP Pretty Sure Kevin McCarthy Just Emotionally Thinking Out Loud About Trump Resigning After Jan. 6
It's your Sunday show rundown.
On Thursday, it was revealed that Mitch McConnell and Kevin McCarthy both sort of flirted with doing the right thing after January 6, until they remembered they are unprincipled jackasses. While McConnell stayed mum to ride out the news cycle, McCarthy lied about it until the tapes were released. McCarthy and rightwing media have been in a tizzy ever since.
This Sunday, a couple of GOP members were brave enough to venture outside the Fox News/Newsmax/OAN bubble to be asked actual questions about it. Let's see how they did!
Senator Roy Blunt on NBC's 'Meet The Press'
Kristen Welker was filling in for Chuck Todd, which made it immensely better.
After some Ukraine questions, Welker asked Blunt to comment on the McCarthy tapes. He displayed his trademark courage:
BLUNT: Well, a lot of people were saying a lot of things in that two weeks. [...] Frankly, when I first heard this, I thought anybody who's been as close to President Trump as Kevin McCarthy was would know that the last thing that Donald Trump was going to do was either resign or quit. It was a – it was a pathway. With ten days to the end of this term, there was no way that was going to happen. And I was, frankly, sort of surprised that Kevin would even suggest it.
A lot of people were talking, Roy. Mainly about the insurrection that just happened and how the outroing president incited that mob, along with some MAGA toadies.
After Blunt dodged that question, Welker was more direct:
WELKER: Is it a credibility problem, though, that he came out and denied it and now there's tape that the world has heard that disproves his denial?
BLUNT: Well, you'll have to ask him that. My guess is you don't remember every conversation you're in exactly the way it occurred. And maybe you remember it the way you want it to occur. [...] I've never been in a leadership meeting where you felt like you couldn't think out loud. And apparently they have a leadership where you can't think out loud.
Oh, McConnell and McCarthy were just "thinking out loud" and worried less about doing the right thing and more about how to keep their power. Sounds about right.
Will Blunt vote for Trump in 2024 if he's the nominee? Prepare to be not at all shocked.
WELKER: You've always voted for the Republican nominee in the past. Will you do so again, no matter who the nominee is?
BLUNT: Well, there's going to be another nominee, and that will be the Democrat nominee. And that's the choice you have to make. So, I would expect I'd be supporting the Republican nominee.
Party over country. Every time.
GOP Rep. Michael McCaul on 'Fox News Sunday'
McCaul gave quite a similar answer to Blunt when he was asked about it on Fox News:
MCCAUL: You have to put it in the context of when it was given. This was literally right after Jan. 6. It was a very dark day. It was a very shocking day. A lot of emotions flying high. What Kevin was doing was gaming out various options that hey, what if he got impeached in the House and then the Senate convicted? Would it be better for him to resign prior to that? But the fact is, he never had that conversation with President Trump.
So again, rather than doing the right thing or the having moral convictions, Republicans were "gaming out various options" to see what would be more advantageous to them, instead of for the country. Because to Republicans this whole democracy thing is a game and a grift.
GOP Rep. Victoria Spartz on CNN's 'State Of The Union'
We end with the most absurd attempt to deflect from McCarthy being a lying sack of shit. It was GOP Rep. Victoria Spartz, who decided it was ... Nancy Pelosi's fault.
No transcript, just listen:
Asked about Kevin McCarthy, Republican Rep. Victoria Spartz pivots to trying to blame Pelosi for Jan 6pic.twitter.com/g4tvfAvM4w
— Aaron Rupar (@Aaron Rupar) 1650811734
Well that was some debunked horseshit.
Republicans were never good. Now they aren't even good at pretending they were ever good.
Have a week.
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