Ignore the GOP's Hollow Calls For "Unity"

Calls for “unity” from Republicans aiming to head off an accounting for Trump and his co-conspirators are laughable, but also seem to be the party’s current strategy for limiting fallout to the GOP from the attack on the Capitol.  As I noted earlier today, every member of the GOP who voted to reject the election results following the attack made themselves party to the same cause that inspired these domestic terrorists; coming after the attack, after the true toll of the lies and propaganda was obvious, their votes retroactively blessed the insurrectionist cause.

By attacking the Democrats who seek accountability for the crimes of January 6, rather than simply joining them in demanding justice for all the perpetrators and instigators, these congressional Republicans are effectively lending aid and comfort to the insurrectionists.  And although I recognize that the Democrats have an interest in not alienating Republicans who they may well need to govern in a narrowly-divided Congress, the attack on the Congress was not within the spectrum of normal political conflict; it was a physical, deadly attack on American democracy, and requires a steely, implacable response.  If Republicans are not unified behind the cause of bringing to justice the perpetrators of this attempted coup, then that is a choice they are making, not the fault of Democrats.  The morally-degraded state of many GOP congressmen - their inability to acknowledge their own culpability in inspiring acts of sedition - are hardly an excuse for not holding them accountable for their role in this horrifying event.

And so measures like calling for the expulsion of Senators Ted Cruz and Josh Hawley, who led the effort against the electoral college certification in the Senate, are in fact true acts of unification, the acts of democracy’s defenders identifying and excluding from power democracy’s enemies.  That some Republicans are resorting to absurd distractions from an actual attack on the Capitol shows just how scared they are at the long-term damage the GOP faces.  They are in denial, and far from taking responsibility for their own actions.

I wrote earlier today that Democrats face some serious challenges in making impeachment work, the largest being that the effort would probably take longer than Trump’s time in office.  Yet it’s increasingly clear that forcing Republicans to vote on impeachment, and then possibly to convict the president, may be just the reckoning the GOP needs.  It would serve as a litmus test to make plain as day which Republicans support insurrection against the American government, and which remain legitimate political actors.