This week, House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy sent a very clear signal to Democrats, and the country: He is a coward. But not just any coward. We’re talking about a coward who has zero interest in getting to the bottom of what really happened —and why— when the US Capitol was stormed by a mob directed by former President Donald Trump, prompting lawmakers to run for their lives.
McCarthy is proud of his latest move to shield Trump from any liability and he made that crystal clear with the five Republican members of Congress he selected for the House select committee formed to investigate the Capitol insurrection: Republicans Jim Jordan of Ohio, Jim Banks of Indiana, Rodney Davis of Illinois, Kelly Armstrong of North Dakota and Troy Nehls of Texas.
Of the five, three — Jordan, Banks, and Nehls — voted to object to the 2020 Electoral College results despite the fact that there is zero evidence of voter fraud or major irregularities. Both Banks and Jordan also signed on to a Texas lawsuit aimed at invalidating votes in several key swing states, a suit that was summarily rejected by the Supreme Court.
But even without all of that, the choice of Jordan alone makes very clear what McCarthy wants out of the committee. Jordan is a shameless politician, extremely close to Trump, and has built his reputation on his willingness to viciously confront witnesses not to mention his willingness to carry the former President’s water — as he did during Trump’s first impeachment trial.
As noted by CNN’s Chris Cillizza, “what Jordan’s presence on the committee ensures then is that it will be a circus. Jordan will try to focus on debunked conspiracy theories about Antifa being involved in the January 6 riots. He will bully witnesses brought by Democrats to testify about their recollection of that day. He will defend Trump despite the former President’s clear involvement in inciting the January 6 crowd and his unwillingness to immediately speak out when it became clear the protests had turned violent. Jordan will muddy the waters. He will make it impossible for the average American looking to understand the insurrection to do so. He will throw anything and everything at the wall in an attempt to distract people from the underlying facts of that day.”
The facts are: A mob overwhelmed police officers and stormed the US Capitol in an attempt to stop the certification of the Electoral College. In the process, more than 100 police officers were injured. Five people died as a result of the insurrection. And more than 500 people have now been charged for their roles in the riot that day.
McCarthy knows Republicans won’t be able to deny the facts, but that didn’t stop him from making a cowardly decision to try to whitewash the deadly attack in order to appease Trump.
So, yeah. Kevin McCarthy is a coward.
