Commentary: They can run but…

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Commentary: They can run but…

By John Krull
TheStatehouseFile.com

INDIANAPOLIS—The truth, it seems, is the enemy.

The truth is the thing from which Republicans must flee.

John Krull, publisher, TheStatehouseFile.com

That was the message sent by the Republican U.S. senators when 35 of them—including Indiana’s Todd Young—voted to prevent the creation of a bipartisan commission to investigate the Jan. 6 assault on the Capitol. Another nine—including Indiana’s Mike Braun—didn’t bother to vote.

Only six members of the GOP U.S. Senate caucus summoned the moral courage and the devotion to country to defy Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky, and the deposed mad king, pouting former president Donald Trump and say:

Yes, when a mob attacks the cradle of our republic, kills people—including officers of the law—and attempts to destroy our system of self-government, we ought to try to find out why and make sure it doesn’t happen again.

The staunch six weren’t enough to put a stop to a filibuster.

This was a sad, sad, sad day for the Senate, for the country … and, most of all, for the Republican Party.

Republicans have attempted to argue that the commission would have been a partisan smear campaign.

Their contention is unadulterated nonsense—bull in its purest form.

Every concession Republicans asked for from Democrats was granted.

The commission would have been made up of an equal number of Republicans and Democrats. Both Republicans and Democrats would have had subpoena power. The staffing for the commission would have been equally divided between Democrats and Republicans.

The commission’s work would have been wrapped up by the end of 2021 so its findings wouldn’t be released in an election year.

And both Democrats and Republicans would have to agree upon those findings before they could be released.

The cliché following the GOP’s abdication of responsibility in the Senate was that Republicans couldn’t take “yes” for an answer.

In fact, they were desperate to say “yes” to the man who has led them, again and again and again, to ruin.

Trump.

There is something about that man that robs otherwise sober and tough-minded Republicans of both their sense and their nerve. He is the bad habit they cannot break, the corrupting influence with whom they cannot part company.

In this election, his petulance—his complete lack of the emotional discipline one expects of a functioning adult—cost them not just the White House, but the Senate. Both GOP candidates in Georgia were on their way to victory until Trump fired up his perpetual grievance apparatus, encouraged his followers not to vote and thus made Chuck Schumer majority leader.

I have written before that the American institution upon which Donald Trump was going to wreak the greatest damage was his own party. That prediction, sadly, is being borne out by events.

Four years ago, Republicans controlled the White House, the Senate and the House of Representatives. Now, they control none of them and across the country they’re scrambling to adopt voter-suppression measures because they know the tide runs against them.

Those measures are a holding action at best. The revulsion Trump inspired cost Republicans the suburbs, once GOP strongholds, in 2018 and 2020.

It’s hard to believe that’s going to change in 2022 and 2024, now that Trump has made clear the cost of his support involves suppressing evidence, overturning legitimate elections and elevating his personal interests over those of the nation.

Several Republicans—Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska being the most forceful—tried to warn the GOP about the folly of this vote and this course.

To keep Trump and his followers from throwing another massive temper tantrum, Republican now have cast aside the ability to use any of the following words or phrases with either credibility or authority:

Accountability.

Law and order.

Blue lives matter.

Constitutional practice.

Courage.

Character.

I understand the box Republicans are in. They cannot win with Trump, but they will be shellacked if he tells his followers to stay home.

So, they want to appease him.

They can’t.

No matter how much they give him, he always will want more.

Always will demand more.

Until they summon up the will to confront Donald Trump, they will be forced, again and again and again, to defend the indefensible.

But the truth might set them free.

The truth terrifies Donald Trump.

Tragically, though, he terrifies most Republicans.

FOOTNOTE:  John Krull is director of Franklin College’s Pulliam School of Journalism and publisher of TheStatehouseFile.com, a news website powered by Franklin College journalism students.

The City-County posted this article without bias or editing.The City-County Observer is advertisers are not responsible for the content of this article. 

6 COMMENTS

  1. President Trump will have my vote again in 2024,all the democrats want to do is raise taxes and run our government as a socialist state

    • If we want to stop Democrats, we have to elect REAL Republicans.

      Trump is NOT a Republican. He’s a loser, the destroyer of America’s best economy in the world (which, thanks to Trump, is returning to economic prosperity and low unemployement under the Democrats).

      Eviltaxpayer is crazy. He thinks Liz Cheney is a Democrat and a Socialist! What? Who are these people? He hates big business, a hallmark of GOP politics. Eviltaxpayer loves Russia’s Putin, and he HATES AMERICA and is trying to destroy it!! Russia is EVIL !!!!

      I have no patience for the white nationalist, racist wing in America today.

  2. I guess since this is an “opinion piece” the CCO has determined that facts don’t matter. Publishing this misleading (at best but more like dishonest) drivel by Krull (‘kills people”) I guess is some way of trying to prove to the masses that this publication is unbiased but in actuality this nonsense will do nothing but run off those of us who originally stopped by to keep up on the hard hitting IIT segments. The facts of the Jan 6 riots and associated deaths are as follows…

    Cause of death released for 4 of 5 people at Capitol riot – but not Officer Brian Sicknick
    Bart Jansen
    USA TODAY

    WASHINGTON – The District of Columbia medical examiner on Wednesday released the cause of death for four of the five people who died at the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol, but results are still pending for Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick.

    Dr. Francisco Diaz, the district’s chief medical examiner, announced the causes of deaths as:

    • Ashli Babbitt, 35, died by homicide from a gunshot to the left shoulder. She was shot by a Capitol police officer while trying to climb through a door near the House chamber.

    • Kevin Greeson, 55, died of natural causes from cardiovascular disease. Greeson, of Athens, Alabama, had a Twitter account in which he supported former President Donald Trump and profanely denounced his opponents.

    • Benjamin Phillips, 50, died of natural causes from cardiovascular disease. According to the Philadelphia Inquirer, Phillips of Ringtown, Pennsylvania, was a computer programmer who founded a social media website for Trump supporters. He had organized a trip of several dozen people to the district.

    • Roseanne Boyland, 34, died by accident from acute amphetamine intoxication. Boyland, of Georgia, wanted to be a sobriety counselor and followed QAnon conspiracies, her family said.

    While Mr. Sicknick’s cause of death remains unreleased at this time according to this data, both NBC and CNN reported he died of natural causes (strokes) – via simple google search.

    • Yep, “a normal tourist visit” – Pub Rep. Andrew Clyde about January 6

      You and the Rep. have a lot in common.

      Trump/Putin 2024!

      That’ll Stop The Steal by God. And evidently make your life soooo much better….

      • Trump’s supporters attacked the US Capitol January 6th.

        These are the facts.
        They are undisputed.
        The attackers are terrorists, hellbent on destroying the Republican Party and our Democracy.

        One answer: Arrest and jail the traitors.

        JPL ….. is writing crazy crap and a about one-step away from joining ISIS.

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