After literally jeopardizing America's democracy with their blind loyalty to Donald J. Trump, Republicans now say it's time for the nation to "just move on." Like the violent attempted insurrection at the Capitol should just be cast aside. Like Trump's fraudulent claims about the election don't matter. Just let it go.
Yes, people. Let's just move on. No reason to put everybody through an impeachment trial. That would be harmful to the nation. Just give him a slap on the wrist and send him home to his "Office of the Former President" in Florida, where he can hold court and have his ring kissed by GOP supplicants.
Maybe that's where he'll meet with Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), the Q-Anon gun-toting crazy who is driving what's left of the actual Republican party nuts with her antics, including previous social media statements supporting the assassination of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other top Democrats.
“I'm excited to go visit him soon and continue to give him a call and talk to him frequently. Great news is, he supports me 100 percent, and I've always supported him,” she said, according to Politico.
“President Trump is always here for the people, and he's not going anywhere. So I look forward to, to joining him and what his future plans may be,” she added.
Maybe Greene will move on from Congress and become Trump's Mistress of Propaganda.
However, if she remains in Congress, it looks like she'll be moving on from her committee assignments and thus rendered virtually toothless by Democrats, who control the House. Without committee assignments, members of Congress are about as useful as a screen door on a submarine.
Politico is reporting that Democratic leadership will deliver House minority leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) an ultimatum to either remove Greene from committees or else watch her be removed via a vote on the House floor.
Meanwhile, freshman Rep. Cora Bush (D-MO) has moved on, too. She's moved her office away from Greene's, claiming Greene accosted her without a mask. She said she was doing it in the interest of safety. That's incredible, when you have to be fearful of your own colleague at work.
A Few with Courage
Very few Republican lawmakers have shown any degree of courage in standing up to Trump, and those that have tried to move on from the former president, including the 10 House Republicans who voted for his impeachment, are feeling the wrath of constituents who, despite it all, still believe in their political Messiah.
Conservative Republican Rep. Tom Rice (SC), who surprised most observers with his vote to impeach, has been censured by the South Carolina GOP, and at least two Republican candidates have crawled out of the woodwork to say they will oppose him in their party's primary in 2022. So in South Carolina, in one of the reddest congressional districts in the nation, the GOP is ready to move on from Rice, who is trying to move on from Trump.
"I have backed this President through thick and thin for four years. I campaigned for him and voted for him twice. But, this utter failure is inexcusable," Rice said.
House GOP Conference Chair Liz Cheney (Wyo.) and Rep. Adam Kinzinger (IL) were among the 10 Republican members of Congress who voted to impeach Trump. Like Rice, Cheney has drawn a right-wing primary challenger and there are calls for her to relinquish her House leadership role. Kinzinger admits his vote could be “terminal” to his career.
Crawling Back
But that was about it, and now most Republicans just want to move on and avoid angering Trump and his mob.
Although Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell (KY) said the riot at the Capitol had been "provoked by the president," and there was thought he might vote to convict, he was one of 45 GOP senators who voted in opposition to the upcoming Senate trial, arguing that a former president cannot be impeached. So, he's clearly not moving on.
Rep. Kevin McCarthy early on said Trump was to blame for the bloodshed. But now he's had second thoughts and is crawling back to his leader.
In a January 29 editorial, The Washington Post wrote this:
For a moment, it seemed as if the Republican Party might exorcise former president Donald Trump. After four years of submission, GOP leaders were telling the truth...There was talk that enough GOP senators might be willing to join Democrats to convict the former president in an impeachment trial.
Days later, the era of glasnost seems to be ending. Senior Republicans are crawling back to Mr. Trump. The big lie of election fraud lives on. It is a sad turn for a once great party. Barely three weeks after Mr. Trump’s mob stormed the Capitol, Mr. McCarthy traveled on Thursday to Mar-a-Lago, the former president’s Florida home, to kiss the ring. The apparent goal was to patch up his relationship with Mr. Trump following Mr. McCarthy’s mild acknowledgment of Mr. Trump’s guilt. The visit caps an apology tour in which the House minority leader walked back his criticism of Mr. Trump, at one point absurdly remarking that not just the former president but “everybody across this country” bears some responsibility for the Capitol riot.
History will record the truth about what McCarthy, McConnell and company did, what Trump did, and what the Republican party failed to do. The GOP as it once was no longer exists. It has been taken over by the likes of Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, QAnon crazies, conspiracy theorists, and right-wing religious nutcases, and politicians with no pride, no conscience, and utterly no moral compass.
Indeed, it's time for America to move on. Thankfully, the election enables us to do exactly that.