“Legitimate political discourse”

Yesterday was a big day in American politics. The Republican National Committee censured Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger, the two members of the GOP who sit on the House committee investigating the insurrection of the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021. Here are a few pieces of censure resolution:

WHEREAS, The primary mission of the Republican Party is to elect Republicans who support the United States Constitution and share our values.

What does it mean for the Republican Party to “support the Constitution?” What are these “values” that the GOP tries to uphold? We learn the answers to these questions later in the resolution, but yesterday Mike Pence revealed that he does not entirely see eye-to-eye with the leaders of his party. Watch his speech at the meeting of the Federalist Society: Watch:

Pence, a Republican and former Vice President of the United States, believes that he followed the Constitution on January 6, 2021. Does this mean that he deserves censure as well?

One other question: Was this speech the unofficial launch of Pence’s 2024 presidential campaign?

The resolution goes on:

The Biden Administration and Democrats in Congress have embarked on a systemic effort to replace liberty with socialism; eliminate border security in favor of lawless open borders; create record inflation designed to steal the American dream from our children and grandchildren; neuter our national defense and a peace through strength foreign policy; replaced President Trump’s ‘Operation Warp Speed’ with incompetence and illegal mandates; and destroy America’s economy with the Green New Deal.…The Conference must design the strategy to stop the radical Biden agenda and retire Nancy Pelosi, tasks which require that all Republicans pull in the same direction.

Several things need to be said here. First, Joe Biden is not a socialist. If the GOP believes that Biden’s COVID-19 relief package, bipartisan infrastructure bill, and Build Back Better Plan is socialism then its members need to study other “socialist” moments in American history such as John Quincy Adams’s call for infrastructure spending; Reconstruction (unprecedented government spending to reconstruct the South after the Civil War); the New Deal, and the Great Society. Second, while Biden has had his problems on the border, he does not support open borders. Third, while inflation and supply chain issues remain a problem, future historians will notice that this censure resolution was released on a very big day for the United States economy. Fourth, future historians will also notice that this resolution was released two days after Biden killed the leader of ISIS. Fifth, the resolution implies that the Republican Party is the party of anti-vaccine mandates. Moreover, the question of Biden’s “incompetence” should be understood in the larger context of this (for starters).

More from the resolution:

The Conference must not be sabotaged by Representatives Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger who have demonstrated with actions and words, that they support Democrat efforts to destroy President Trump more than they support winning back a Republican majority in 2022.

And there it is! By joining the January 6, 2021 committee, Cheney and Kinzinger have run afoul of the party dictator Donald Trump.

And here is the part of the resolution that is getting the most attention today:

Representatives Cheney and Kinzinger are participating in a Democrat-led persecution of ordinary citizens engaged in legitimate political discourse, and they are both utilizing their past professed political affiliation to mask Democrat abuse of prosecutorial power for partisan purposes.” (Italics mine)

This is what the resolution describes as “legitimate political discourse”:

Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna Romney McDaniel tried to clarify the the phrase “legitimate political discourse,” but the wording was not changed in the resolution. In other words, the RNC is on record suggesting that the events of January 6, 2021 represented “legitimate political discourse.” They have sent a message to the base. The plan all along, it seems, was to rally the base and then clarify things later when few people are listening.

Here is how some members of the Republican Party responded to the resolution:

Jamie Herrera Beutler (R-WA): “January 6^th left the realm of legitimate political discourse when it became a violent riot at the U.S. Capitol. I didn’t support the creation of the January 6^th committee because I believed the committee’s makeup was too partisan, but I also don’t support the censure of a Member of Congress for attempting to uncover the truth.”

Cheney defended herself against the censure:

So did Kinzinger:

In a statement to Axios, Rep. John Katko (NY) said “I think we should be focused on the elections and not this nonsense.”

Nebraska Senator Ben Sasse has been silent on the resolution. But he has taken some time to fire-back at Nancy Pelosi for comments she made about the Winter Olympics.

Here is Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski:

Here is Rep. Peter Meijer (MI):

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