The GOP's top leaders were missing from commemoration events at the Capitol. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy did not make an appearance or issue a statement. Several of Trump's most ardent followers, however, scheduled their own counterprogramming.
Just a year ago, many Republicans joined Democrats in reacting with horror to the Capitol insurrection, denouncing both the violence perpetrated by the rioters and the role played by former President Donald Trump in stoking the outrage that fueled their actions with lies about a “stolen” election.
In a statement, McConnell called Jan. 6 “a dark day for Congress and our country” after “the seat of the first branch of our federal government was stormed by criminals who brutalized police officers and used force to try to stop Congress from doing its job.” Still, he pivoted to politics, characterizing the speeches by President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris at the Capitol as an “effort to resurrect a failed presidency more than marking the anniversary of a dark day in American history.”
“I think it’s going to end up being just a politicized Charlie Foxtrot today," he said, using military slang for a chaotic situation. "I think it’s going to be nauseating, quite frankly.”Other potential 2024 candidates, meanwhile, stayed conspicuously silent, underscoring the complicated calculus they face in a party in which Trump remains very much in charge, with the support of wide swaths of the primary-voting electorate.
“We’re ashamed of nothing,” said GOP Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida during an appearance with Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene on a podcast hosted by former Trump strategist Steve Bannon, who has been indicted for defying a subpoena from the House committee investigating the insurrection. “We’re proud of the work that we did on Jan. 6 to make legitimate arguments about election integrity."
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