McConnell says Trump provoked Capitol siege; mob 'fed lies'

Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell on Tuesday explicitly placed blame on President Donald Trump for the deadly riot at the Capitol,

That Trump fed the insurrection is a reality. Only his alt right base (backed by their media and 'foreign' states) continue to believe otherwise. Fortunately they're a minority group.

Now Trump's fellow anti-democracy backers in the Republican Party, politicians like Cruz, Hawley, Gaetz, Jordan and dozens of others need to accept blame for their roles in feeding their followers lies about the election. If they broke laws, they need to be tried. At minimum they need to be voted out next election.

We all know who they are, but McConnell should name these ‘others’

I imagine Mr. McConnell's comments will inflame some on the far right. Reuters had a video up for a very short time on this subject and before I could watch it, it disappeared. "This video file cannot be played". He and his wife sadly might need a small security detail in the future.

McConnell trying to backtrack 4 yrs of having his head shoved somewhere isn't going to work. He needs to go, as do all republicans who have bowed at the alter rather than performing their Constitutional duties the last 4 yrs.

They all need to be unemployed/retired for the rest of their lives, especially the political appointees who didn't say "no" related to COVID handling.

This isn't just about what happened at the Capitol Building. There are representatives who were elected in November making all the same lies that Trump did. They need to go too - that's probably 80+% of the GOP people.

Here's a far right classic response to McConnell:

https://thefederalistpapers.org/us/report-claims-mcconnell-pleased-attempts-impeach-trump-allegedly-not-whipping-votes-trump

This isn't just about what happened at the Capitol Building. There are representatives who were elected in November making all the same lies that Trump did. They need to go too - that's probably 80+% of the GOP people.

They are a fair representation of the Republican base. If you think the members of the US Congress are far right, Republicans in various state legislatures make the Republicans in Congress look like Boy Scouts.

And there it is. Game over.

I honestly did not think McConnell had it in him to finally do the right thing. Or is he BLM and antifa as well?

That sound? That's me still gasping for air from laughing so hard at Trump seditonists and insurrectionists.

I honestly did not think McConnell had it in him to finally do the right thing. Or is he BLM and antifa as well?

He is a politician being political.

Good For You, McConnell!

Do you really expect anyone to take anything you say seriously after the last four years of your complicity in Trump's destruction of our democracy?

To give meaning to his words, that implies Senator Mitch McConnell will vote to convict and prohibit Trump from enjoying "any Office of honor, Trust or Profit under the United States".  If he doesn't, his words mean nothing to me.

Isn't McConnell 79 yrs old? 2021 - 1942 = ... yep. Retire already. Enjoy Kentucky, follow the UK B-ball team.

Sadly, it was just re-elected in Nov 2020. That explains why his head was where it was. I don't get why someone would run for re-election to a 6 yr office at his age. He's been a US Senator since 1985. Talk about a career politician. Drain the swamp!

The mob was fed lies," McConnell said. “They were provoked by the president and other powerful people, and they tried to use fear and violence to stop a specific proceeding of the first branch of the federal government which they did not like.

Bit too late in the day to discover a spine.

Vote to convict trump if you really have the courage or just shut up. You also will go down the trash bin soon!!!

The Avenger Today  07:51 am JST

To give meaning to his words, that implies Senator Mitch McConnell will vote to convict and prohibit Trump from enjoying "any Office of honor, Trust or Profit under the United States".  If he doesn't, his words mean nothing to me.

I couldn't agree with you more.

In case McConnell and many more republican senators do vote to convict Trump, it is a good indication that the GOP is trying to rebuild its brand image and winning back trust of voters and big donors.

Conviction should be a piece of cake, and it keeps him from running for office ever again.

Capitol rioters say Trump told them to do it, which some legal experts say could open him to criminal charges

https://www.businessinsider.com/capitol-rioters-say-trump-told-them-to-come-to-washington-2021-1

Hopefully, this will make his whole family toxic and political pariah! I suspect Ivanka and Don Jr. will be running for political offices. Of course, they will use the local and federal resources for their families financial. Crime and Corruption 2.0!!!

There are a lot of old, information-challenged conservative nutjobs in the English and Spanish speaking communities living in Florida, so they will probably get elected if they promise to nuclear bomb a few hurricanes!

Do you really expect anyone to take anything you say seriously after the last four years of your complicity in Trump's destruction of our democracy?

McConnell has used policy and political power unfairly for longer than just the last four years. Glad to see him relegated to the minority party and the need to play defense.

He sees the writing on the wall now. Voter suppression has failed because of activists like Stacey Abrams. The GoP has to rebrand itself now or suffer the fate of the Wig party, Christian coalition, tea party... They need to distance themselves from the right wing extremists, racists, and the conspiracy caucus.

Meanwhile, you have GoP party members like Haley and Cruz doubling down.

McConnell says Trump provoked Capitol siege; mob 'fed lies'

Of course he does.

since the deadly Capitol siege

Ya just gotta love the MSM. Funny, I haven't seen any pictures of any Trebuchet yet. This must have something like Helm's deep with siege towers and warrior orcs.

sn't McConnell 79 yrs old? 2021 - 1942 = ... yep.

Granny Pelosi is 80. Chuck Schumer is 70. Strom Thurmond retired from the US Senate at age 100. Dianne Feinstein is 87 but reportedly having "cognitive problems", apparently why she won't chair the Senate Judiciary Committee after years as the Senior Democrat on that committee. 86 yo Don Young of Alaska has been in Congress since 1967 with the exception of two years between Congressional seats, 1971-1973, spent in the Alaska Senate. Think about that, TVs were all black and white and had a maximum of 13 VHF channels you had to select manually with dial on the TV set and the few TV stations out there all shut down between midnight and 6:00am, in 1967 when he entered office.

Looks like the time is up for Trump. Don't expect him to run again. Best case scenario is the senate vote to not allow him to run again. Worst case, he goes to jail.

 I suspect Ivanka and Don Jr. will be running for political offices. 

The Manhattan District Attorney and New York Attorney General will keep them both too busy to run for political office I suspect, and once the financial records of the Trump companies are public they will be radioactive. The prosecutions are coming and the discovery process is going to reveal a great deal of information that I suspect will be highly damaging to their reputations. On top of that it appears that Dominion Voting Systems was just waiting for Mr. Trump to cease being President to start dropping suits on him and his family for defamation over their claims of Dominion voting machines being rigged.

McConnell says Trump provoked Capitol siege; mob 'fed lies'

Of course he does.

Why wouldn't he? It is the truth.

Best case scenario is the senate vote to not allow him to run again. Worst case, he goes to jail.

You mixed up worst and best.

As for Mitch, I loathe him, but he really knows how to twist the knife, doesn’t he?

He sees the writing on the wall now. Voter suppression has failed because of activists like Stacey Abrams. 

Maybe it hasn't? McConnell did his darnedest to make sure the Supreme Court has a hard right majority. The states are going to do a lot of things to limit access to the polls for minorities and the poor. Statehouses in many states are further to the right than anyone in Congress and they have their knives out looking for ways to keep the poor and blacks from voting. Those efforts will be challenged in court and most if not all will likely end up being decided by the US Supreme Court. I would not trust the current court to uphold anything resembling voting rights. While most state Constitutions have a clear statement that voting is a right, at the Federal level the US Constitution does not. I worry this Supreme Court could approve all manner of voting restrictions and further gut the Voting Rights Act. There is zero chance of this Congress strengthening the Voting Rights Act after SCOTUS partially gutted it in 2013 so the US is at the mercy of SCOTUS except for a handful of states that are not dominated by the right. Ask yourself how many times have you heard someone say something to the effect of "the privilege to vote" or "the voting privilege"? I've heard this many times. There is a growing assumption on the right that voting is a privilege instead of a right. It goes with the general ignorance of the US Constitution in the US population at large. That is a very dangerous trend that has to be aggressively nipped in the bud.

Conviction should be a piece of cake, and it keeps him from running for office ever again.

When the hoopla settles, it will not be a piece of cake.

When the hoopla settles, it will not be a piece of cake.

Yes, it's all lip service.

He is setting things up to get rid of certain trouble makers he cannot control.

He is also very aware of the facts.

We often hear this 50% divide and the 75% of Republicans support Trump.

Well reality is 26% of Americans are Republicans, 31% are Democrats but 41% are independent. So 75% Republicans is a very tiny portion of the voters and with the majority by far of the electorate thinking Trump and those in the house and Senate that supported the lies and insurgency should be held accountable he knows that he will lose again in 2022 in the midterm if he doesn't get the independent vote.

Funny how so few in the traditional or social media mention that independent voters out number each party.

GdTokyo

Best case scenario is the senate vote to not allow him to run again. Worst case, he goes to jail.

You mixed up worst and best.

I was trying to look at it from his point of view. ;-)

As for Mitch, I loathe him, but he really knows how to twist the knife, doesn’t he?

Ha ha. My thoughts exactly.

Maybe it hasn't? McConnell did his darnedest to make sure the Supreme Court has a hard right majority. The states are going to do a lot of things to limit access to the polls for minorities and the poor. Statehouses in many states are further to the right than anyone in Congress and they have their knives out looking for ways to keep the poor and blacks from voting.

All great points.

I feel emboldened by the Georgia results and the ever diminishing GoP base/demographic.

People may start seeing results that have a positive effect on their lives, which should be the thing that conservatives and liberals should be able to agree on.

Mitch you are a disgrace and so are all of the anti democracy enablers in both Houses of Congress. The same applies to the state governors who followed their cult leader.

Mitch, you aren’t any different that the terrorist, thugs and traitors that have aided and abetted the shameful occupant of the White House for the past 4 years.

Hey, McConnell. Nice to see you finally wake up after 4 years. Guess it finally turned into the political expedient thing to do. You sure didn't have the stones when Trumpism was raging.

I'm not sure there's ever been a more craven, power-hungry, back-stabbing pol than McConnell...

When Trump helped him get a tax cut for the Top 1% and install far-right judges, he was Trump's loyal supporter...

When Trump lost the election, spread lies about fraud, and sabotaged the two Repub Senate candidates in Georgia - forcing McConnell out as the Majority Leader, he turns on a dime and inserts the knife...

You have to know that if Trump had campaigned forcefully for the two Senate Repubs and they had won, with Mitch remaining in power, he would be in Trump's corner fighting impeachment tooth and nail...

In Wolff's book, Trump called McConnell "The Snake"...maybe the only time Trump was right...

@FizzBit

Ya just gotta love the MSM. Funny, I haven't seen any pictures of any Trebuchet yet. This must have something like Helm's deep with siege towers and warrior orcs.

Apparently all they had was body armour, all sorts of guns, knives and stuff for tying people up but I suppose that's okay with you.

Too little, too late, Mitch.

By the way, has Ms Graham flip-flopped yet? He's due another flip-flop this hour.

Mitch & company got everything they wanted while the gettin’ was good before jumping off this crazy train at the last second.

Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell sole priority is distancing the Republican party politically from Trump four-year presidency.

McConnell will ruthlessly throw Donald Trump under a bus or hang him out to dry to secure/maintain the future party line. It will be interesting, and revealing how the Republican's/GOP vote in the forthcoming impeachment trail.

Rolf AndersonToday  12:40 pm JST

“The mob was fed lies," McConnell said. “They were provoked by the president and other powerful people, and they tried to use fear and violence to stop a specific proceeding of the first branch of the federal government which they did not like.”

We agree to disagree. We saw President Trump’s speech. We read it in the newspapers and online. There was no incitement of insurrection. 

Sorry, I thought he told a mob of heavily-armed right-wingers and white supremacists that they had to "fight like hell" so that he could go on being President, even though he couldn't prove that he'd won the election. What did you think was going to happen?

Mitch's flip-flops will never match shameless Lindsey's spectacular loopy loops that would put a pretzel to shame, but we can imagine what might have broken the camel's back and concentrated Mitch's mind on excising the malignant tumor of Trumpism threatening his party's survival when his ambitious wife who jumped ship after it rammed into the Capitol, got back home and chewed his ear off with Chinese whispers during some pillow talk. It's hardly conceivable that her sudden departure from the Trump team will have no consequences for her former boss's eventual fate. The ominous admonition from Mitch on the floor of the Senate to the lame duck limping off to Mar-a-Lago we might parse as oracular: YOU'RE FIRED!

McConnell has no choice if he wants to save the Republican party. There's no conscience here just politics as usual. After Jan 6th the word "unforgivable" has been constantly repeated by a great many Americans. if the GOP is seen to prevent Trump's conviction in the Senate they will be seen as having "forgiven" Trump, and they can kiss 2024 goodbye.

McConnell role, his is duty, first and foremost, is to protect and represent the party above all else. And if deemed fit Donald Trump, his kith and kin could well pay a heavy price.

I don’t think Donald Trump ever really understood, or could for a moment comprehend the politics of Government.

Trump could well be about to find out, and have to face, or forced to accept responsibility.

Humility, and gracious acceptance of defeat, go hand in hand with statesmanship.