Donald Trump — as someone who’s now been convicted of a felony — would technically be banned from entering more than 35 countries that have rules against letting in people with such records. But that didn’t stop Republican representatives and senators from welcoming Trump to Washington Thursday. The presidential candidate was there for the first time since he incited the violent Jan. 6, 2021, attack he hoped would keep him in power after he lost the 2020 election.
Trump — who also stands accused in federal court of having tried “to overturn the legitimate results of the 2020 presidential election”— was first celebrated by House Republicans who presented Trump with the game ball from their victory in Wednesday night’s congressional baseball game and delivered a jovial rendition of “Happy Birthday.” Trump turned 78 Friday.
Later, Senate Republicans welcomed Trump with a standing ovation, with Roger Marshall of Kansas dubbing it a “magic moment” and Marco Rubio of Florida characterizing the event as “getting the team back together.” Ted Cruz of Texas was so pathetic that he continued to clap for Trump even after he’d left the room. As MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell asked Thursday night, “Did he think Donald Trump could see through the door?” Even though Trump put these Republican officials’ lives at risk on Jan. 6 by whipping up his supporters and directing them toward the Capitol, they are now all saluting him.
Many of these same Republicans slammed Trump immediately after Jan. 6. Rep. Nancy Mace of South Carolina said then: “We have to hold the president accountable for what happened. The rhetoric leading up to this vote, the lies that were told to the American people — this is what happens, rhetoric has real consequences.” This year, though, Mace endorsed Trump, and Thursday, Trump praised her.
The most glaring cowardice, though, was Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell’s. “There is no question that President Trump is practically and morally responsible for provoking the events of that day,” he said at the conclusion of Trump’s second impeachment trial. He pointed out then that despite Trump’s aides begging him to tell his supporters to disperse, Trump “watched television happily” and “kept pressing his scheme to overturn the election.” We saw McConnell joyfully shaking hands with Trump on Thursday. “It was an entirely positive meeting,” he told reporters. Hypocritical is too weak a word to describe that change.
The hypocrisy isn’t as big an issue, though, as Republican lawmakers offering a “hero’s welcome” to a man they know tried to block the peaceful transfer of power. The four-count federal indictment against Trump states what we all know: “Despite having lost, the defendant [Trump] was determined to remain in power” and he employed “dishonesty, fraud, and deceit” to achieve his illegal goal.
Those lawmakers feted Trump knowing that, as the final report of the bipartisan House committee that investigated Jan. 6 concluded, “The central cause of January 6th was one man, former President Donald Trump, whom many others followed.”
They cheered and serenaded a wannabe despot who has turned his rallies into a celebration of those who attacked our seat of government and opens his campaign rallies with a rendition of “The Star-Spangled Banner” sung by the “J6 Prison Choir.” Before that song is played, those attending Trump rallies are told, “Ladies and gentlemen, please rise for the horribly and unfairly treated Jan. 6th hostages.” Last week, Trump described those who’d attacked the Capitol as “warriors.”
Rep. Bennie Thompson, Democrat of Mississippi, put it perfectly Thursday in a statement: “After inciting a deadly insurrection that defiled the halls of Congress, how dare Trump show his face on these grounds? Congressional Republicans allow him to waltz in here when it’s known he has no regard for democracy.” Thompson was right when he said of Trump, “He still presents the same dire threat to our democracy that he did three years ago.”
Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif., who served on the House Jan. 6 committee, said in a statement: “On January 6th, Donald Trump lit a match to democracy with an insurrection on Capitol Hill, and, today, he’s arrived at the scene of the crime and continues to throw fuel on the flame.”
They say that some folks have an irresistible urge to return to the scene of the crime. What we saw Thursday, though, was victims of that crime throwing their arms wide open for the perpetrator. House and Senate Republicans’ gleeful and jubilant celebration of a man who sought to end our democratic Republic shows us what putting loyalty to Trump over the Constitution looks like. And it’s equally pathetic and despicable.
This article was originally published on MSNBC.com
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