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Ten House Republicans voted to to complaint President Donald J. Trump with inciting the Capitol attack. All of them are inactive struggling with the consequences.
Jan. 5, 2022, 11:48 a.m. ET
WASHINGTON — The 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach Donald J. Trump did truthful with the aforesaid condemnation — that a president of their enactment deserved to beryllium charged with inciting insurrection connected Jan. 6, 2021 — and the aforesaid anticipation — that his relation successful doing truthful would yet transportation the G.O.P. to repudiate him.
But successful the twelvemonth since the deadliest onslaught connected the Capitol successful centuries, nary of the 10 lawmakers person been capable to debar the consequences of a cardinal miscalculation astir the absorption of their party. The erstwhile president is precise overmuch the person of the Republicans, and it is those who stood against him whom the enactment has thrust into the relation of pariah.
Since they formed their impeachment votes connected Jan. 13, Representatives Anthony Gonzalez of Ohio and Adam Kinzinger of Illinois person announced their retirements amid decease threats from voters and hostility from colleagues. Representative Liz Cheney of Wyoming has gone from a star successful the House Republican enactment to an exiled enactment gadfly and information teller.
Representatives Jaime Herrera Beutler of Washington, Peter Meijer of Michigan and Fred Upton of Michigan person Trump-endorsed superior challengers connected their heels and uncertain governmental futures. Four others — John Katko of New York, Dan Newhouse of Washington, Tom Rice of South Carolina and David Valadao of California — person gone to ground, soundless if not silenced, successful the evident anticipation that the full occurrence volition beryllium forgotten.
The destiny of the 10 implicit the past twelvemonth has offered a bracing world cheque astir the quality of today’s Republican Party, 1 that has afloat embraced the lie of a stolen election and its main purveyor, and sidelined the fewer remaining members who person dared to publically question Mr. Trump oregon his actions.
“There’s been this waiting crippled and an arbitrage betwixt an individual’s governmental aboriginal and the trajectory of that guy, assuming the apex has passed,” Mr. Meijer said successful a lengthy interview, referring to Mr. Trump. “The presumption among immoderate was that this would beryllium fundamentally a self-correcting issue,” and that Mr. Trump’s powerfulness would fade.
“I deliberation that’s proven overly optimistic,” Mr. Meijer added.
The 10 could beryllium forgiven for believing that their votes past January would not permission them truthful exposed. In the contiguous aftermath of the Capitol riot, immoderate of Mr. Trump’s astir stalwart allies discontinue the authorities successful disgust. Representative Kevin McCarthy of California, the House Republican leader, voted against impeachment but declared, “The president bears work for Wednesday’s onslaught connected Congress by mob rioters.”
The Senate Republican leader, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, orchestrated Mr. Trump’s acquittal aft a hasty Senate impeachment trial. But helium had fto it beryllium known that helium considered the president culpable, and said arsenic overmuch successful a scathing speech afterward: “There’s nary question — nary — that President Trump is practically and morally liable for provoking the events of the day.”
But the rhetorical screen occurrence proved arsenic ephemeral arsenic it was useless. Mr. Gonzalez, deluged with threats and fearing for the information of his woman and children, announced successful September that helium would not question re-election — and called Mr. Trump “a crab for the country.”
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A Cuban American who starred arsenic a wide receiver astatine Ohio State, Mr. Gonzalez had been considered the benignant of person who would guarantee the Republican Party’s aboriginal successful a multiethnic, multiracial state aft his predetermination successful 2018. But helium recovered small enactment from the enactment that recruited him into authorities erstwhile Mr. Trump endorsed a superior challenger and the threats began.
Mr. Kinzinger, who announced his status successful October, has faced akin threats. But helium has turned his absorption to Mr. Trump into a capstone of his career, defying Republican leaders to articulation the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack, laying into Mr. Trump and his defenders astatine each opportunity, and promising not to permission the governmental signifier erstwhile his House vocation ends this year.
“The 2020 predetermination was not stolen,” Mr. Kinzinger said connected Wednesday in a lengthy video message to people the day of Jan. 6. “Joe Biden won and Donald Trump lost. We person to admit it. But the enactment of the Republican Party won’t. They lied to the American radical and proceed to propulsion the Big Lie and echo the conspiracy theories that enactment their pockets, keeping them successful power.”
Mr. Upton has ne'er been 1 for flash, yet his aboriginal is nary much secure, contempt 35 years successful the House. He could look Steve Carra, a authorities typical endorsed by Mr. Trump, who would person to determination homes to equine a superior situation against Mr. Upton due to the fact that of new legislature maps drafted by a bipartisan commission.
“I’m 100 percent moving for Congress, it’s an grant to person President Trump’s endorsement, and Fred Upton volition not beryllium a congressman successful 2023,” Mr. Carra said successful a substance message.
Even if Mr. Upton does not person to look Mr. Carra, his impeachment ballot has placed him astatine risk. The caller representation pushed Mr. Upton into the aforesaid territory arsenic Bill Huizenga, a much blimpish congressman who voted against impeachment.
Under the circumstances, Mr. Upton is showing wide signs of fatigue.
“You’ve got metallic detectors present going connected the House floor. We get truly nasty threats astatine home. The code gets, you know, tougher and tougher, and it’s a beauteous toxic place,” helium said past period connected CNN. “I’ve ne'er seen thing similar this before.”
None of the 10 person fallen truthful acold successful the Republican firmament arsenic Ms. Cheney, nor risen truthful precocious successful the esteem of galore successful some parties who fearfulness and loathe Mr. Trump. The girl of a erstwhile vice president who was erstwhile the embodiment of confrontational conservatism, for amended oregon worse, Ms. Cheney started 2021 arsenic the chairwoman of the House Republican Conference, a governmental weapon combatant believed by galore to beryllium destined for the speakership.
Her ballot to impeach, and her outspoken denunciations of the lie — pushed by Mr. Trump and embraced by galore of her colleagues — that the 2020 predetermination was “stolen,” outgo her dearly. She was ousted from her enactment post, ejected from the Wyoming Republican Party and targeted repeatedly by the erstwhile president, who has tried to unite Wyoming voters astir the superior hostile helium has endorsed, Harriet Hageman.
Ms. Cheney has soldiered on, becoming the vice chairwoman of the House prime committee investigating the riot, the look of Republican absorption to Trumpism and a one-woman wrecking unit for Mr. McCarthy’s ambitions to go talker adjacent twelvemonth if the enactment retakes power of the House.
Looking back, Ms. Cheney said successful an interrogation that her autumn from Republican enactment was inevitable arsenic agelong arsenic she had to stock the signifier with Mr. McCarthy, whose little denunciation of Mr. Trump aft Jan. 6 rapidly gave mode to a resumption of fealty.
“It was progressively wide that staying arsenic league seat was going to necessitate maine to perpetuate the prevarication astir the election,” Ms. Cheney said. “I was simply not consenting to look the different mode and judge what helium did.”
Mr. McCarthy, by contrast, visited Mr. Trump astatine his Mar-a-Lago nine successful Palm Beach, Fla, adjacent the extremity of January, making it “pretty wide the way that helium had chosen,” Ms. Cheney added. “It was 1 that was not faithful to the Constitution.”
Never 1 to fto bygones beryllium bygones, Mr. Trump has relentlessly pursued retribution against those who voted to impeach him.
In September, helium endorsed a square-jawed, Army Special Forces veteran, Joe Kent, to situation Ms. Herrera Beutler, who earlier her ballot had revealed 1 of the astir damning vignettes of Jan. 6 for Mr. Trump. She recounted a telephone telephone successful which Mr. McCarthy had personally pleaded with the president to telephone disconnected the rioters during the assault. Mr. Trump had responded, “Well, Kevin, I conjecture these radical are much upset astir the predetermination than you are.”
Key Figures successful the Jan. 6 Inquiry
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Mr. Kent has heartily embraced the prevarication that Mr. Trump won the 2020 predetermination and has said that the erstwhile president bears nary work for the attack.
Ms. Hageman, the campaigner whom Mr. Trump endorsed to unseat Ms. Cheney, is much of a governmental insider: She was portion of the Republican absorption to his ascent successful 2016. But she has since embraced him, calling Mr. Trump the top president of her beingness and claiming that determination are “legitimate questions” astir the result of the 2020 election.
John Gibbs, Mr. Trump’s prime to unseat Mr. Meijer, was the erstwhile president’s prime to pb the Office of Personnel Management. But his information stalled aft CNN uncovered tweets that helium posted promoting the conspiracy mentation that John Podesta, Hillary Clinton’s 2016 statesmanlike run chairman, took portion successful a satanic ritual and defending the antisemitic Twitter relationship of the alt-right fig Ricky Vaughn.
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Despite the threat, Mr. Meijer — a governmental neophyte who formed what whitethorn beryllium to beryllium the astir consequential ballot of his vocation days aft helium was sworn successful — says helium has nary regrets astir his ballot to impeach. He has spoken frankly astir the sinister forces successful his enactment that gave emergence to the Capitol riot.
“Based connected demonstrated nationalist behavior, of people Jan. 6 was a measurement toward authoritarianism,” Mr. Meijer said. But helium has tempered specified statements with disapproval of Democrats, saying, “authoritarian populism is live and good successful some parties.”
“The strategy is not providing the recourse that we need,” Mr. Meijer said, tying unneurotic Jan. 6 and radical justness protests successful 2020 that sometimes turned violent. “That’s the done enactment betwixt the riots of past summer, Jan. 6 and now. The strategy itself has been delegitimized.”
Ms. Cheney, by contrast, laid the work with Republicans alone.
“Our enactment has to choose,” she said. “We tin either beryllium loyal to Donald Trump, oregon we tin beryllium loyal to the Constitution, but we cannot beryllium both. And close now, determination are acold excessively galore Republicans who are trying to alteration the erstwhile president, clasp the erstwhile president, look the different mode and anticipation that the erstwhile president goes away.”
For now, helium is precise overmuch present. Senate Republicans had an accidental to banish Mr. Trump permanently from politics; if 17 of them had joined Democrats successful voting to convict him astatine this impeachment trial, it would person yielded the two-thirds bulk needed to region him and paved the mode for a abstracted ballot to barroom him from office. But lone 7 Republicans voted to convict.
One of them, Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, lamented that successful her party’s haste to “get this down us,” Republicans mislaid the accidental to bash conscionable that.
Like truthful galore of her House Republican counterparts, Ms. Murkowski is facing a superior situation this twelvemonth from a Trump-endorsed candidate.
“I americium ever the optimist erstwhile it comes to the greatness of our country, and I privation to proceed to person that level of optimism, that erstwhile we get excessively adjacent to the brink, we person the quality to propulsion ourselves back,” she said. “That’s 1 of the reasons that I’m signing up to tally again — due to the fact that I consciousness it’s important to beryllium 1 of those voices that hopefully tin propulsion america back.”
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