The Media Must Confront Trump Enablers of the Coup Attempt

This blog is often very critical of the mainstream media for its failure to do its job and investigate political wrongdoings by Republicans and its near constant false equivalence between Republican lies and Democrat talking points and positions. Indeed, the mainstream media too often calls GOP and Trump lies as hyperbole instead of what they really are: blatant and deliberate lies.  Indeed, had the media done its job during the 2016 presidential election, Trump may not have ever been elected.  Had the media likewise done its job during the 2020 election, Trump migh have lost by a landslide, making his lies about a "stolen election" utterly unbelieveable.  Now, with the House Select Committee on January 6th producing more and more evidence of Trump's unlawful coup attempt - often using Republican witnesses and Trump administration personnel providing the damning testimony - the same media is belatedly calling Trump's statements out as lies, but to date, his congressional enablers are still being handled with kid gloves.  This needs to stop immediately and these enablers need to be confronted repeatedly and forced to either repent of their self-prostitution of Trump or be forever labeled as liars and enemies of the U.S. Constitution.  A column in the Washington Post pushes this argument (Note: in the interest of disclosure, Sen. John Kennedy pictured above was a law school classmate who I saw at a recent class reunion):

With the exception of Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), Senate Republicans on the ballot this year have much to answer for concerning the Jan. 6 coup attempt and the perpetuation of the “big lie.” Yet the mainstream media, which boast of their efforts to cover democracy, have so far failed to put forward basic questions to these senators.

For example: Did Donald Trump lose in 2020? If so, why did you not call out his specious claims of voter fraud? How can you defend a former president who targeted election officials despite passionate warnings from people such as Gabriel Sterling in Georgia that he was putting lives at risk?

Each Republican senator running for reelection should be asked if they approved of the scheme to procure fake electors or if they would object to a Democratic presidential winner in 2024. They should explain why they (with the exception of Murkowski) opposed an independent commission to investigate the Jan. 6 insurrection.

Here are several questions for a few key Republicans, to help the media out:

Sen. Ron Johnson (Wis.):

• You said you “had no involvement” in the reported efforts by your chief of staff to pass along fake electoral votes to Vice President Mike Pence’s office on Jan. 6, 2021. As The Post’s Aaron Blake pointed out, if your version of events — in which you essentially said your office was just a go-between — is true, your office “was happy to serve as a conduit between a House intern and Pence’s staff, offering to deliver documents to no less than the vice president’s office without really reviewing the contents or their implications.” Is it standard procedure to pass along unvetted, unexamined material to the vice president? Are you blaming your staff for enabling the coup attempt? Why did you not come forward with this information previously?
• Were the Jan. 6 rioters violent? Why did you say you would have been afraid of them if they were Black Lives Matter protesters or antifa, but were not alarmed by those hunting down Pence, assaulting police and attempting to halt the counting of electoral votes?
• Last year at a Republican event in Wisconsin, you admitted there was no evidence for the “big lie.” Did you ever implore Trump to accept the results?

Sen. John Neely Kennedy (La.):

• Why did you vote to object to electoral votes? What evidence did you have that they were fraudulent?
• Now that the House Jan. 6 committee has demonstrated no evidence of fraud, do you regret your vote?
• How can voters trust you not to be duped by Trump in the future?

Sen. Mike Lee (Utah):

• You never received actual evidence of widespread fraud. Why did you nevertheless assist Trump in trying to overturn the election, as your messages with then-White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows show? How do you justify that?
• Were you aware that Trump’s own attorneys — including chief coup-plotter John Eastman — essentially acknowledged there was no viable case to pursue after the last lawsuit was dismissed? If Eastman didn’t believe his own theory, how could you?
• Ultimately, you did not object to the electoral vote. Did you realize your efforts had been misplaced? Why did you not alert the FBI or the public that an attempt to procure alternate electors in violation of the will of the people was underway?

Sen. Tim Scott (S.C.):

• In a recent interview, you said you would of course support Trump if he were the Republican nominee in 2024. Given his role in spreading the “big lie,” pressuring state officials to come up with fake ballots, cajoling Justice Department lawyers to help cast doubt on the election, endangering former vice president Mike Pence’s life and targeting ordinary election workers such as Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss, how can you say that?
• What would you say to Freeman and Moss about the harm they suffered based on the utterly false allegations that Trump and his team had spread?

It is frankly inconceivable that these senators — who by acts of commission or omission enabled Trump’s illegal and antidemocratic actions — should be presenting themselves for reelection. It’s even more shocking that they have yet to be interrogated about their conduct.

The mainstream media might pat themselves on the backs for their newfound interest in democracy, but their failure to hold accountable those who had a hand in nearly overthrowing our election suggests they have much to learn.

I did not confront Sen. Kennedy at our class reunion, but found it very, very difficult to bite my tongue so as to not create a scene at the reunion dinner.