From Coup To Cheers: Trump’s Capitol Return & GOP's Cowardly Capitulation
Republicans who ran for their lives amid a violent insurrection Trump incited welcomed him back to the scene of the crime with applause. It was a microcosm of the GOP's descent into authoritarianism.
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On Thursday, Donald Trump returned to Capitol Hill to meet with congressional Republicans for the first time since inciting a violent insurrection that sent those very same Republicans running for their lives.
Trump, who is now a convicted felon and still faces federal and state charges for a criminal conspiracy to overturn the 2020 election, was welcomed with cheers, a birthday serenade, and plenty of handshakes at the scene of the crime.
It was a stunning display of cowardice, hypocrisy, and capitulation. It was a microcosm of the Republican Party establishment’s descent into Trumpism. It was an authoritarian salute to an aspiring autocrat who has already tried to overthrow American democracy once and will pursue a dictatorial agenda if re-elected.
It was in stark contrast to the immediate aftermath of January 6.
On the day of January 6, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) declared on the Senate floor, “The United States Senate will not be intimidated by thugs, mobs, or threats. We will not bow to lawlessness or intimidation. This failed insurrection only underscores how crucial the task before us is for our republic.”
Well, they just bowed to lawlessness.
Senate Republicans welcomed Donald Trump in with a standing ovation. Senator McConnell, who previously said Trump was “practically and morally responsible” for the January 6 attack on the Capitol and mused about this future prosecution, shook Trump’s hand.
Senator McConnell was initially instrumental in creating the permission structure for the GOP establishment to support Trump in 2016. McConnell endorsed Trump in 2016 and corruptly kept former Justice Scalia’s Supreme Court seat vacant to rally conservatives. He enabled Trumpism then and helps keep it alive now.
Former Republican Congresswoman, and January 6 Committee Co-Chair, Liz Cheney responded to McConnell’s embrace of Trump in a post on Twitter/X:
Mitch McConnell knows Trump provoked the violent attack on our Capitol and then “watched television happily” as his mob brutally beat police officers and hunted the Vice President. He knows Trump refused for hours to tell his mob to leave and “even then with police officers bleeding…he kept repeating his election lies and praising the criminals.” He knows Trump committed a “disgraceful dereliction of duty” and is a danger to our Republic. Trump and his collaborators will be defeated, and history will remember the shame of people like @LeaderMcConnell who enabled them.
Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC), who in 2015 called Trump a “jackass” and in 2021 blamed Trump for January 6, delivered an endorsement on Fox News that puts North Korean media to shame: “What I would say today about the Senate engagement with President Trump - He was the team captain, and we were glad he was leading us. Everybody in that room is dying for him to get back in office… It was the single best meeting I have ever seen between the United States Republican senators and President Trump.”
This, of course, runs contrary to reality. While Republicans publicly praised Trump, they told reporters how Trump’s meetings with lawmakers really went. In his meeting with House Republicans, Trump was described as “rambling,” with one source telling the nonprofit DC newsroom NOTUS that it was “like talking to your drunk uncle at the family reunion.”
Among Trump’s bizarre moments in these meetings, it was widely reported that Trump called Milwaukee a “horrible city,” once again praised Hannibal Lecter, and said that Nancy Pelosi’s daughter said that he and Pelosi would have had a “great romance” in another life.
There is no rationale for insulting Milwaukee, the largest city in Wisconsin, a key swing state. And when it comes to Trump’s repeated praise of Hannibal Lecter, I guess he’s strategically targeting the coveted cannibal vote? And I have no words for his apparent crush on Nancy Pelosi.
None of this is normal. The weird, unhinged comments from Trump and the authoritarian embrace from congressional Republicans shouldn’t be treated like business as usual. But unfortunately, Trump’s return to the Capitol has garnered an unusual amount of positive press.
Headlines blaring “GOP unity” cascaded across the internet. Axios ran a headline in their newsletter titled “💪 Trump's D.C. flex.” The Associated Press, which has recently been excellent in laying out the stakes of this election, had a lapse in that streak. They ran this headline and lead paragraph combo that levied unearned praise and didn’t showcase the authoritarian nature of this display:
Cheers, cake and a fist-bump from GOP as Trump returns to Capitol Hill in a first since Jan. 6 riot
Donald Trump made a triumphant return to Capitol Hill on Thursday, his first with lawmakers since the Jan.6, 2021 attacks, embraced by energized House and Senate Republicans who find themselves reinvigorated by his bid to retake the White House.
There was nothing “triumphant” about it. Troubling would’ve been a better word.
On the other hand, the MSNBC host lineup did an excellent job of covering Trump’s visit to Capitol Hill, with Ari Melber running a particularly spot-on segment with a straightforward chyron reading: “FAILED U.S. COUP LEADER RETURNS TO SITE OF COUP TODAY.”
Public Notice Founder Aaron Rupar was among the media voices who accurately depicted the events of Trump’s visit, putting together a supercut highlighting the authoritarian sycophancy on display in right-wing media and by Republican “leaders.”
This kind of coverage is important because Trump’s candidacy and the Republican Party’s embrace of him should worry every American who cares about our democracy.
The hypocrisy and cognitive dissonance within the GOP now define them. The lawmakers that flip flopped on Trump didn’t betray their principles. They never had any principles to begin with. It’s all about power.
As I wrote last week, the Republican Party is now fully loyal to Donald Trump and ready to execute his far-right authoritarian agenda, including backing the prosecution of Democrats.
This week brought to mind a quote that I’ve always thought defines this era. When discussing her book “Fascism: A Warning” on Pod Save The World in 2018, Madeleine Albright, the first female Secretary of State, said:
“As [Mussolini] was consolidating his power, he said, ‘if you pluck a chicken one feather at a time, nobody notices.’ And so, I have been concerned about the feather-plucking that is going on in the United States…I think [Trump] is the least democratic president that I’ve observed.”
This was true then, while Trump was president, and rings even more true today.
Donald Trump and his allies have been seeking to normalize his authoritarianism for nearly a decade. Trump has relentlessly eroded democratic norms, or as Italian Dictator Benito Mussolini put it, ‘plucked a chicken one feather at a time’ since the day he announced his candidacy, and this week was no different.
Our responsibility in the media is to make sure everyone notices when the feathers of democracy are being plucked so that we can take action before there are no feathers left.
Once again you’re bringing me all the awfulness I had missed. Thank you, Ahmed, for compiling this present day history, if that’s what I can call it. Personally, I’m aghast that he was allowed anywhere near the building!