Republicans Don't Want Real Investigation Into Who's Responsible For Capitol Attack, HUH!

This is our shocked face.

Just over three months ago, the former White House squatter incited an attack against Congress. A violent MAGA mob stormed the Capitol, delaying the certification of President Joe Biden's victory and terrorizing Congress members and their staff. Five people died as a result of the rampage.

January 6 was a national disgrace, but Republicans soon made clear they weren't interested in holding anyone seriously accountable, least of all President Lost Cause, whom they continued to defend. They had more urgent goals, such as defending Dr. Seuss from his own family. 

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is reportedly facing “long odds" in launching an independent investigation into the insurrection. According to the Washington Post, "bipartisan resolve to hold the perpetrators and instigators accountable" has eroded. Put more simply, Republicans are fucking cowards.

Republicans realize an independent investigation would reveal that the 45th president spent weeks lying about the results of a free and fair election. He consistently attempted to subvert the will of the people, and once there were no more peaceful, if still corrupt, options left for him, he sicced a mob on Congress and his own vice president. He ghosted Republicans on the other side of the mob because he thought they hadn't done enough to steal the election for him. You don't need Sherlock Holmes or even Encyclopedia Brown to crack this mystery.

From the Washington Post:  

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) announced late last week that she had drafted a fresh proposal for an outside commission to examine what caused the deadly riot. But in a sign of how delicate the political climate has become, she has yet to share her recommendations with Republican leaders, who shot down her initial approach, labeling it too narrow in scope and too heavily weighted toward Democrats in composition.

"Compromise has been necessary," Pelosi wrote in a letter to other Democrats, informing them she had begun to share her latest proposal with other Republicans in Congress. "It is my hope that we can reach agreement very soon.

Democrats shouldn't reasonably expect good-faith efforts from congressional Republicans, many of whom helped spread the Big Lie that incited the attack. The Democratic House majority should hold blistering Benghazi-style hearings that grill congressional Republicans like Mo Brooks, Paul Gosar, Ted Cruz, and Josh Hawley. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy should testify regarding what the twice-impeached thug said when McCarthy begged him to call off his mob. We can't expect Republicans to fairly participate in this process.

Republicans tried pinning the blame for the Capitol siege on left-wing extremists such as antifa, even as avowed MAGA supporters were arrested and charged. It's an absurd distraction — the rioters literally defiled the Capitol with MAGA flags — but seemingly an effective one. It's in their best interests politically to smother reality under a cloud of "both sides" BS.

In the meantime, none of the Democrat-led House panels investigating aspects of the insurrection has made demonstrable headway in documenting contributing factors and assigning blame for the abundant failures that allowed the Capitol to be overrun. None, aside from the House Appropriations Committee, has held hearings with any current or former law enforcement or military officials responsible for coordinating security in D.C. ahead of the pro-Trump "Stop the Steal" rally that set off the riot on Jan. 6 and for then reinforcing the Capitol once it was overrun.

Norm Ornstein with the American Enterprise Institute, who observes congressional Republicans in their natural habitat, said “[the GOP's] political imperative at this point is to discredit any investigation, to deny any ties either to Donald Trump or to the members of Congress . . . who either helped to plan the [riot] or helped to incite it."

Democrats have now discovered there's little “bipartisan momentum" for a January 6 commission, which is hardly a shock. Stalling any such momentum was the GOP's plan all along. In the immediate aftermath of the Capitol attack, some Republicans blamed the insurrectionist-in-chief, but it wasn't long before they were giving him fake awards for outstanding achievement in the field of excellence. 

Former South Carolina GOP governor and UN ambassador Nikki Haley blasted her former boss for instigating the January 6 siege and said his “actions since Election Day will be judged harshly by history." But that was in February. By April, Haley was again unwavering in her devotion to the mad king. She'd fully support him if he launched a comeback bid in 2024, because treason is not as much a dealbreaker as Biden's domestic agenda, apparently.

The Post notes that it took the GOP-controlled Congress more than a year after 9/11 to set up an independent commission into the terror attacks. If Democrats follow a similar timeline, nothing will happen until next spring, which is during the midterm primaries when Republicans will face even more pressure to blame Hillary Clinton's emails for the Capitol attack.

Maybe Pelosi should give up on compromise and just nail the bastards, by showing America what the evidence really says.

[ Washington Post ]

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