The Republican Party is very confused.
On one hand you have GOP politicians hoping to move forward with their regularly scheduled GOP political terribleness. On the other, GOP politicians are doubling down on being led by a twice-impeached former reality TV host who cost them the White House.
In some cases, you have both in the very same GOP politician! Let’s check out a few examples from this week’s Sunday shows.
Arkansas GOP Gov. Asa Hutchinson on ‘Fox News Sunday’
This isn’t Arkansas GOP Gov. Asa Hutchinson’s first time in the Sunday rundown. But he’s often seen as one of the “sane” or “normal” ones. On “Fox News Sunday,” host Bret Baier asked about the January 6 hearings. Hutchinson’s answer seemed normal, at first.
HUTCHINSON: My reaction to the hearing is that it’s an important review as to what happened on January 6. I’ve always said we need to do this. […] Obviously, as they present the case, Americans see this, and they want to hold the people who are responsible for the January 6 attack accountable. […] I believe that what happened on January 6 is a lot at [Trump’s] feet. It was wrong for our country and for him to continue to push that theory I agree is the wrong direction for the Republican Party.
But Hutchinson then clarified that he just really feels like Trump got off track on January 6, and not a moment sooner.
HUTCHINSON: Obviously, what President Trump — there’s a lot of things that he did that were very good, that the base and I agree with. But he got off track on January 6 and that was a costly error for our democracy.
The GOP can excuse racism, bigotry, trampling on people’s rights and subversion of elections, but they draw the line at the natural result of the policies they espouse.
GOP Rep. Don Bacon on NBC’s ‘Meet The Press’
The congressman from Nebraska appeared with Chuck Todd like he’s just another “normal” Republican. But then Todd asked a scary question that made that illusion fall apart.
GOP Rep. Chris Jacobs on CNN’s ‘State Of The Union’
The Republican congressman from New York was on to talk about his support for some sensible gun restrictions in the wake recent mass shootings in Uvalde and in his hometown of Buffalo:
Dana Bash asked Jacobs if he regretted, in hindsight, voting to reject Pennsylvania’s and Arizona’s electors on January 6, he gave an answer that was both surprising and strangely revealing.
BASH: Do you regret voting against Pennsylvania?
JACOBS: No, because, unfortunately, those two states did violate the Constitution by overturning election law without going through the legislative process, which is a violation of the Constitution. Those would not — my — the electoral votes those added up to would not have ever turned any election over — this election over. But I do believe election integrity is a legitimate issue and needs to — we need assurance going forward for this democracy to work.
BASH: But that — what you just said is key, that they — you don’t believe that the election results would have changed.
JACOBS: No.
So despite knowing that whatever objection he had wasn’t going to change the election results, he was willing to go for the ride until it ended up at the insurrection.
It’s like being totally okay with the construction of the Death Star until it’s used for its only purpose of destroying planets.
New Hampshire GOP Gov. Chris Sununu on ‘Fox & Friends Weekend’
We conclude this week with New Hampshire’s governor trying to get in on the border crisis/caravan freakout goodness those southern governors get to enjoy. However, despite how hard he tried, his attempt sounded laughable.
SUNUNU: We’ve seen a lot of the northern border agents being shifted down to the southern border because the [Biden] Administration will not put in the additional resources needed to take care of the crisis down there. We talk about the southern border crisis, but it’s a national crisis. […] It affects all 50 states […] [We’ve seen a] big increase in smuggling, traffic on our northern border. Whether it’s drugs or other illegal activities.
So much for all the glowing normalization of Sununu. Are we really getting a lot of Canadian smugglers trying to sneak in some socialized medicine and less gun crimes? Perhaps new episodes of “Letterkenny?” Because according to CBP’s own numbers, 2022 drug seizures on both borders are way down from their highs in 2019 and 2020. And the northern border contributed a minuscule portion.
The real northern state border crisis is New Jersey people running for Pennsylvania Senate seats.
Have a week.
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