In case you missed it, CNN hosted a townhall conversation with former vice president Mike Pence. Jake Tapper hosted the event and Pence took questions from the audience. Pence is clearly positioning himself for a presidential run in 2024 and...
January 6th Committee
The January 6 committee is back this week and Zoe Lofgren says they will reveal some “pretty surprising” new information
Here is CNBC: The House Jan. 6 select committee’s next public hearing will reveal new material about former President Donald Trump’s plans and how much he knew about the Capitol riot, one of the panel’s members said Tuesday. The committee’s ninth...
The “civic grit” of Liz Cheney
Today is primary day in Wyoming. It is likely that Liz Cheney will not win her GOP primary race against Trump-backed Harriet Hageman. This piece explains why. Over at The Bulwark, American historian James Banner lauds Cheney for defending the...
The Kansas City Star on Josh Hawley’s manliness
The Missouri Senator’s hometown newspaper pulled no punches after seeing Hawley’s run through the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021: Josh Hawley is a laughingstock. During Thursday night’s televised hearings of the House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, coup...
Hawley on the run
Watch: Here is Phillip Bump in today’s Washington Post: Given everything that’s happened since, it’s easy to forget the role that Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) played in validating Donald Trump’s effort to undermine the 2020 election results. In the weeks...
Harvard study: Trump motivated January 6th insurrectionists
It looks like the House Select Committee now has a Harvard study to bolster its argument. Here is NBC News: Researchers at Harvard University who conducted the largest study yet of what motivated Jan. 6 rioters say the data is...
The mob at the U.S. Capitol on January 6th was following Trump’s orders
For those of you who are not paying attention to the historic January 6th hearings, here is what happened yesterday in the words of Amanda Carpenter, writer for the conservative-leaning The Bulwark: Donald Trump’s defenders can finally drop the idea...
Who will be the last Trump evangelical standing?
Today, after watching another day of damning testimony before the House January 6th Committee, I was reminded again of this passage from Grant Wacker‘s biography of Billy Graham: The details of the low-level crime and high-level mendacity that led to...
Commentary editor: “Trump is in deep, deep, deep, deep trouble”
That’s four “deeps” from John Podhoretz, the editor of the conservative Commentary magazine. Here is a taste of his piece: The testimony this afternoon of Cassidy Hutchinson, the aide to Trump chief of staff Mark Meadows, cannot be dismissed. If...
The GOP is trying to defend the most corrupt president in United States history
Historians will have the last say, but in the meantime here is a taste of Jonathan Chait’s recent piece at New York Magazine: At this point, even with the hearings in progress, it seems safe to rate this as the...
So much for all that MAGA/GOP/Christian Right masculinity crap. The real hero today is a 26-year-old female aide
Former vice-president Mike Pence won’t testify before the House Committee to investigate January 6th. My congressman Scott Perry, and many other members of Congress, including minority leader Kevin McCarthy, will not testify. White House counsel Pat Cipollone will not testify....
Where are the Rusty Bowers Republicans?
Watch Rusty Bowers testifying yesterday before the House Select Committee on January 6th: Here is E.J. Dionne at The Washington Post: Note to every politician in the GOP: You have to decide. You can be a Rusty Bowers Republican. Or you can...
The GOP is in a dark place right now
This letter was sent to Adam Kinzinger’s home. He is a veteran and a GOP member of the House January 6th Select Committee. The letter was addressed to his wife: This is not the first time Kinzinger has released a...
National Review: Trump “was unfit to be entrusted with the office”
The editors of the conservative National Review have never been big Trump fans. In 2016, the magazine opposed Trump’s candidacy. Since then, the response to Trump has been mixed. Here is today’s editorial: As has been true of so many things...
Did some GOP members of Congress give “reconnaissance tours” before January 6th?
Here is Hugo Lowell of The Guardian: The House select committee investigating the Capitol attack revealed on Thursday that it had evidence to suggest certain “reconnaissance tours” took place in the days before 6 January, potentially providing some rioters with...
“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,...
The House select committee on January 6th would do well to have some historians on its staff
Earlier this week the Supreme Court rejected Donald Trump’s request to stop the January 6th committee from obtaining access to White House records related to the insurrection. The National Archives has sent the material to the House and the committee...