Kevin McCarthy is the embodiment of the Republican Party's hopelessness

 Why does he have a problem with an investigation of the January 6 siege of the Capitol?

House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy announced Tuesday he opposed an inquiry to investigate the January 6 attack on the Capitol, siding with Republicans who have tried in recent days to downplay and move on from efforts to overturn the 2020 election.

McCarthy's opposition to the bipartisan agreement for an independent commission comes ahead of a House vote this week to create the panel modeled after the 9/11 Commission, which would be tasked with investigating the circumstances behind supporters of then-President Donald Trump breaching the Capitol to try to stop Congress from certifying the Electoral College vote for President Joe Biden.

The bipartisan agreement to establish the January 6 commission was reached last week by House Homeland Security Chairman Bennie Thompson and the panel's top Republican, Rep. John Katko of New York, who was one of the 10 House Republicans to vote to impeach Trump in the wake of the January 6 attack on the Capitol.

This is really lame:

McCarthy and other Republicans have argued that any commission should also look at violence involving Antifa and riots that occurred during protests of police brutality last year. Democrats charge that Republicans are simply trying to obfuscate Trump's role lying about the election being stolen in the lead-up to January 6 attack.

Look, all the riots last summer do indeed merit examination. It was identity politics gone wild, not to mention an opportunity for thieves to haul off booty without consequences. But that is an entirely different matter, with different causes and different kinds of players. This is about rabid cult followers egged on by their big-baby leader who could not face the reality of having lost the presidential election. Let's keep our apples in one basket and our oranges in another. 

Maybe he doesn't want to talk about this phone conversation from the afternoon of January 6:

When House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy called then-President Donald Trump on Jan. 6 to implore him to call off his supporters who were besieging the Capitol, Trump reportedly responded with mockery — prompting a “shouting match” to ensue between the two men.

“Well, Kevin, I guess these people are more upset about the election than you are,” Trump told McCarthy, according to a CNN report published Friday.

The California congressman reportedly responded with anger, telling Trump that as they spoke, rioters were breaking through the windows of his office. “Who the fuck do you think you are talking to?” McCarthy demanded of Trump, according to CNN.

McCarthy has previously discussed some details of that phone call. He told The Bakersfield Californian last month that the two men shared a “very heated conversation” as the riot was happening and that he’d urged Trump to “get help” to the Capitol. 

But new, disturbing details about the call have emerged this week, offering a glimpse into Trump’s immediate reaction to the insurrection. 

CNN’s report about the call cites several Republican lawmakers who were briefed on the conversation. One of them was Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler (R-Wash.), who recounted McCarthy’s call with Trump at a virtual town hall earlier this week.

Herrera Beutler ― who was among the 10 Republican House members who voted to impeach Trump over his role in the Capitol attack ― described the call as “chilling.” 

Does he not remember what he. said a week later on the House floor?

Rep. Kevin McCarthy, the leader of the House Republicans, believes President Donald Trump “bears responsibility” for the Jan. 6 riot in the U.S. Capitol—but still doesn’t support impeachment, he said during the impeachment debate Wednesday. 

“He should have immediately denounced the mob when he saw what was unfolding. These facts require immediate action of President Trump,” McCarthy said on the House floor.

“And the president’s immediate action also deserves congressional action, which is why I think a fact-finding commission and essential resolution would be prudent. Unfortunately, that is not where we are today,” he added.

 

Of course, on January 28, he put all that behind him with a pilgrimage to Mar-a-Lago, setting a precedent for similar suck-up visits by Lndsey Graham, Nikki Haley and Ted Cruz.

Conservatives see through this. They can't muster the first subatomic particle of respect for any of these people. 

Clearly, they - we - understand that this means wandering in the political wilderness. There is no room for us in a party that engages in this kind of conduct. How many of us are there? We will find out soon, I think. It's looking like, for instance, the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors has just about had a belly full of what the party has become.