Let me know if you've heard this knee-slapper before: Republicans do something sketchy, don't want the blame, when faced with the facts on said sketchy activity, blame the action on "playing politics."
In the case of the January 6th commission where Democrats want to investigate what exactly happened, where a whole bunch of angry white dudes draped in American flags, some wearing face paint and Royal Order of Water Buffalo garb stormed the nation's Capitol after the Trump rally, well, yes, that would be playing politics. It would be pointing the finger at the people who let the fever pitch get to the point of a neck-bearded roar.
Some people in the country still think the election was stolen despite no evidence. Many Republican states are working around the clock to make sure to strip back voting rights, so every scenario moves in their favor come to the midterms. Working in concert with the left would expose the party who continues to take long lungfuls of Trump's lies and hubris, showcasing to the electorate, they did nothing when those loonies were storming people's offices, breaking windows, and ultimately killing Capitol Police officer Brian Sicknick, whose mother was on Capitol Hill to lobby Republicans to get on board to find out why her son died.
Sen. Tim Scott, a Republican from South Carolina, met with Sicknick's mom, saying, "what they had to say was very important." But Scott, naturally, didn't get on board with finding out why this happened. Five people died, and 140 cops were injured, but nothing to see here! What a bipartisan commission would do is drop results nine months before the 2022 midterms, crippling a lot of hot air from slags like Sean Hannity, the bro-puppet for Trump.
Instead of avowing for a bipartisan, independent commission where they could get to the bottom of what happened, Republicans don't want to strengthen the left's already strong case for midterms considering Biden isn't exactly doing a terrible job in the big chair. (To the extent of infrastructure and COVID – his foreign policy sucks.)
If anyone but white people, all card-carrying Republicans, stormed the Capitol, there would be a mass initiative to show the nation what "thugs'' in action look like. Because it's their fanbase, ain't no one got time for the truth to keep moving along, instead, this is a pack of Senators refusing to do their jobs and find new ways to gloss over what's in front of everyone's faces – the political equivalent to the emperor's new clothes.
McConnell doesn't want the commission. He says the hundreds of arrests are enough, saying the bill "is a purely political exercise that adds nothing to the sum total of information." Yes, Mitch, you're right. Unlike the Benghazi dog and pony show where Republicans played political theater, the January 6th commission would show the flaws within the party's ethos, that then-President Trump, still, the Voldemort to his Senate Death Eaters was responsible and his party abetted his actions.
But it all comes back to Gladys Sicknick, who sees the train wreck, "They're supposed to uphold the Constitution and right now I don't think they're doing that," she said after meeting with Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy. "They sit and listen very well, but the bottom line is, we don't know." I hate to spoil it for you, Mrs. Sicknick; they're not going to play ball, ever. They know if they do, the jig is up.
