WASHINGTON (AP) – This time, the fury surrounding the Capitol does not come from an insurgent crowd, but from within.
The rage on display is scorching – Democrat versus Republican; Republican versus Republican; lawmakers from both parties against the catastrophic security breach that left key government leaders vulnerable to last week’s violence, as well as coronavirus in their ranks.
Anger is being fueled even more by the passions sparked by the Democrats’ new push for impeachment of President Donald Trump.
This is a “powder keg” moment, said a Democrat. It is certainly historic.
The House is moving to make Trump the first president to be impeached twice, as part of an extraordinary effort to remove him from office before Democrat Joe Biden took office, a week from Wednesday. The charge to be made against him: “incitement to insurrection.”
Once again, the founders’ phrase, “serious crimes and misdemeanors,” turned against Trump, who was acquitted by the Senate in his first impeachment trial. And tempers are burning in the halls and congressional offices still cleaning up trash from the attackers.
Shaken members, long accustomed to protective bubbles, asked if taxpayers can afford their own bulletproof vests (yes, they can). Democrats attacked a group of ever-Trumpers – Republicans who pressed the president’s false accusations of a fraudulent election, even after the crowd, motivated by the same lies, was finally removed.
Democratic Senator Bob Casey of Pennsylvania, among others, called for the expulsion or censorship of the Republican members who defended the Trump case for voiding voters’ will, should these lawmakers refuse to resign. Democrats were mainly after Senator Josh Hawley of Missouri, Senator Ted Cruz of Texas and a selection of House legislators who also tried to lift obstacles to Biden’s electoral certification.
“Failing to hold those responsible for the insurrection accountable would be a profound injustice and would give the green light to future authoritarians,” said Casey.
Said Democratic Congressman Jamie Raskin of Maryland: “They have a developed independent reality, totally separate from the world of facts, and that is the basis for fascism. When you add racism, anti-Semitism, conspiracy theory and magical thinking, this is an absolute powder keg in terms of an attack on democracy. “
There were charges from Republican to Republican as well. Much of what was addressed to the minority leader in the House, Kevin McCarthy, of California, for not showing enough leadership, according to some former lawmakers and also Republican Party advisers who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not allowed to discuss the matter publicly.
Some House Republicans are upset that McCarthy, one of Trump’s staunchest supporters in Washington, defended him very strongly and for a long time, making it harder to dissociate himself from Trump after the siege of the Capitol.
In contrast, Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky explicitly criticized Trump’s move to overthrow Biden’s election, saying it “would damage our republic forever”. He did this even when the crowd invaded the Capitol and launched himself towards the cameras against the disadvantaged police.
McCarthy acknowledged the outrage among his Republican colleagues about the attack in a letter to them on Monday stating “I share your anger and pain” and making sure that they knew that the threat from the crowd was also coming near him.
“The ties were found on the staff desks in my office,” he wrote. “The windows were broken. The property was stolen. These images will never leave us. ”
As if nerves were not on edge enough with the actions of Trump and his obstinate loyalists, three Democrats who took shelter with Republican members of the House when they were taken to a safe room revealed that they have since tested positive for COVID- 19. Some of the Republicans in that room during those hours refused to wear masks.
In fact, one of the newly infected, Rep. Pramila Jayapal of Washington, said that “several Republicans have not only cruelly refused to wear a mask, but have also mocked colleagues and officials who offered them.”
Representatives Bonnie Watson Coleman of New Jersey and Brad Schneider of Illinois were the others who announced positive tests after their time in the room, while everyone waited to see if more cases were coming.
Democrats were furious.
“In the midst of a deadly attack on our United States Capitol, several of our Republican colleagues laughed at the rules designed to keep not only their colleagues safe, but also to protect the lives of the teams of workers who keep things going, the enforcement of law and officials across Capitol, ”said Rep. Debbie Dingell, D-Mich.
On Tuesday, the House sergeant at the weapons office issued a statement saying that all members and other people entering the chamber should be examined for prohibited items, including firearms, and whoever does not wear a mask on the floor of the Camera will be removed. The Chamber was also voting to impose fines on lawmakers without facial coverage.
The screening requirement comes when at least one lawmaker, Rep. Lauren Boebert, of Colorado, spoke openly about carrying his gun around the city and across the Capitol fields, which infuriated gun control Democrats.
The new metal detectors outside the Chamber’s chamber also angered some Republicans, some of whom uttered obscenities or ignored the devices, claiming that they prevented them from voting.
At a virtual meeting of the House rules committee, Democrats begged Republicans to stop spreading Trump’s myths about a stolen election. Trump’s accusations have been refuted for weeks by judges and election officials, but they have motivated the crowd and are still believed by legions of Trump supporters.
“When does the service to Donald Trump end?” demanded Democratic Representative Joe Morelle of New York. “It must be easy to answer.”
“When people talk, it’s over,” he continued. Otherwise, “we have nothing. There is no America. “
There were some signs that the leading Republican in the House was retreating in his unwavering display of loyalty to Trump.
McCarthy joined the majority of House Republicans in December to support a process to block Biden’s election, and again last week in two votes against Biden’s certification of victory. The process and both votes failed. He has so far avoided criticizing Trump publicly. But in a private conference call on Monday with Republican Party colleagues, he expressed openness to censor Trump.
McCarthy “amplified the president’s misinformation about large-scale electoral fraud,” said former Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Arizona, who frequently clashed with Trump, in an interview last week. “This has been irresponsible. Mitch does not fall into that category. ”
“McCarthy is all-in with Trump,” said Paul Cook, who retired in January as a California Republican congressman and has had disagreements with him over the years. “I think that sometimes you have the greatest good in the country, it is not always the party.”
For Cook, it comes down to the oath of office. “You take an oath, many people kind of forget the words of that,” he said.
In their oath of office, lawmakers promise to defend the Constitution “against all enemies, foreign and domestic”.