Republicans defend Trump ahead of impeachment trial by blaming Nancy Pelosi for Capitol riot – By Jon Skolnik (Salon) / Feb 8 2021
GOP shifts blame to Democrats for Capitol riot, call impeachment a “diversionary operation”
As Donald Trump’s second impeachment trial looms near, bringing the former president’s incitement of insurrection into greater focus once again, members of the GOP are –– in another ambitious act of baseless conspiracy –– deflecting blame onto their Democratic counterparts for the riot and framing impeachment as a “diversionary operation” meant to distract from Democratic culpability.
The idea that Democrats, who were chiefly targeted by rioters themselves, are responsible for the riot, is not entirely novel. Shortly after the Jan. 6 riot, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-SC, tried to put House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-CA, under scrutiny, asking in an interview with Fox News, “Where was Nancy Pelosi? It’s her job to provide Capitol security.”
A month later, former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows and Senator Ron Johnson, R-WI, are now taking Graham’s cue, leading the charge to position their Democratic colleagues as enablers of the insurrection.
In an interview with Fox News on Sunday, Meadows assigned blame to Democrats for not organizing the Capitol Police adequately in anticipation of the riot. “The Capitol police do a tremendous job,” he said, “But they need to be in power to do that job.” Meadows continued, “Some…decisions weren’t made appropriately, in my opinion, and those decisions did not come from 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. It came from the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue,” he said, referring to the Capitol.
