From their silence, we could already guess Arkansas Republicans felt this way, but it’s now the official position of their political party:
In voting to censure Reps. Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger for joining in the investigation of the Jan. 6 U.S. Capitol riot by seditionists hoping to overturn the election of Joe Biden, the Republican National Committee said of the two:
they were participating in “persecution of ordinary citizens engaged in legitimate political discourse.”
Where is the Arkansas elected Republican official — congressmen, senators, governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general, secretary of state, land commissioner, auditor, treasurer, representative, senator, Supreme Court justice who will repudiate this? Where is a single one of that number who’ll repudiate pardons for the rioters, which Trump has supported, or declare that Mike Pence should not have attempted to overturn the election, as Trump has also said. (OK, I think the governor passes this last test.)
Clubbing police. Breaking windows. Defecating on the U.S. Capitol. This is legitimate political discourse?
Imagine if an angry horde of Democrats armed with chemical sprays, clubs, flagpoles and more surged past police into the Arkansas Capitol and talked of hanging the lieutenant governor, brutalized police officers and crapped on the floor in the rotunda? What if nine people died and 150 officers were injured? Would Arkansas Republicans call this legitimate political discourse and demand that no investigation be done?
By their silence, Arkansas Republicans have done no less.
It is shameful. It is also distressing that there’s an apparent lack of voters in Arkansas willing to call them to account. The attorney general of Arkansas even bragged about the fomenter of the riot, Donald Trump, calling her out fondly at a rally in Texas last weekend. Here’s another non-hypothetical for her to refuse to answer: Does she endorse the censure of Cheney and Kinzinger and the description of the riot as legitimate discourse? An enterprising reporter should put these questions, the pardon and the election reversal to every single Republican they can find and record the answer or non-answer.
Wait for this real-life example of the Arkansas version of Trumpistan. It is the case of Don Cook, the Little Rock lawyer severely wounded by a State Police “non-lethal” blast to the face for the alleged crime of lingering on Capitol grounds a few minutes after a curfew imposed on a Black Lives Matter demonstration outside the Arkansas Capitol. He harmed no one. He paid with three surgeries, a titanium jaw replacement and an entire row of tooth implants.
He’s made a claim for his extensive medical expenses. The state is fighting him. He WAS engaged in legitimate political discourse in June 2020 — by assembly in quiet demonstration of solidarity with those protesting police brutality. He was brutalized. Should the Claims Commission award him medical costs over objections of the State Police, would the Arkansas Republican legislature approve the claim?
Their silence over pardons for Trump rioters is a clue. Now if Cook had been wearing a MAGA hat …
PS: One of many incredulous reactions to RNC:
This was January 6th.
This is not “legitimate political discourse.” pic.twitter.com/lKgbVyVcJr— Rep. Liz Cheney (@RepLizCheney) February 4, 2022
The censure was done by voice vote but had overwhelming support. Arkansas members of the RNC: state chair Jonelle Fulmer, Jonathan Barnett and Mindy McAlindon. In announcing recently as a candidate for House from the Bentonville area, McAlindon described herself as a conservative who believes in the Constitution.
PPS: Here’s how cowardly Arkansas Republicans are. Even Mike Pence — MIKE PENCE! — said today that Trump was wrong to say Pence had the right to overturn the election Jan. 6.