January 6 Committee is a Problem for Republicans
Kevin McCarthy threatens his own GOP members who support the January 6 investigation, while remaining silent on Republican extremists who incite violence.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has selected 7 Democrats and Republican Liz Cheney to serve on the January 6 Select Committee, but House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy has not committed to any appointments. McCarthy threatened to strip Republican members of their committee assignments if they accept an appointment from Pelosi to investigate the January 6 insurrection. At the same time, McCarthy has failed to rein in radicalized GOP members like Marjorie Taylor Greene who encourage violence against Democrats with racist, bigoted lies and conspiracy theories.
The New Republican Heresy, New York Magazine | 7/2/2021
By Sarah Jones
Kinzinger and Cheney were the only two House Republicans to vote in favor of creating the select committee, making them rare dissenters in a party that marches ever more faithfully to Trumpism. Cheney can already attest to the costs of heresy. She lost a leadership position because of her refusal to endorse the lie spread by Donald Trump that were it not for voter fraud, he would have beaten Joe Biden in last year’s presidential election.
McCarthy, of course, isn’t invested in finding out the truth. He and other Republicans have always deferred to Trump, and now they’re going a bit further. They’re deferring to Trump’s most radical supporters, creating a situation where the old loyalties no longer apply. Compared to Gosar, Liz Cheney, long an obedient foot soldier for the GOP, is an outsider.
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