A few Republican politicians and operatives aren’t happy with the Republican National Committee’s decision to reprimand Representatives Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger over their work on the House Select Committee looking into the chaos on January 6.
Dissatisfaction with the RNC
Mitt Romney, the senator from Utah and uncle of Ronna McDaniel, the chairman of the Republican National Committee, was one of those in attendance.
Shame falls on a party that would censure persons of conscience, who seek truth in the face of vitriol. Honor attaches to Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger for seeking truth even when doing so comes at great personal cost.
— Mitt Romney (@MittRomney) February 4, 2022
Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, a Republican, expressed surprise and disbelief. Governor Larry Hogan of Maryland also came out against the censure.
“I think that the Republican Party is the party of freedom and truth.” As the GOP governor put it on Twitter, “It’s a terrible day for my party and the country when you are penalized just for expressing your opinions, standing on doctrine, and declining to tell plain lies,” he said.
The GOP I believe in is the party of freedom and truth.
It’s a sad day for my party—and the country—when you’re punished just for expressing your beliefs, standing on principle, and refusing to tell blatant lies.
— Larry Hogan (@LarryHogan) February 4, 2022
There are a small number of people who are dissatisfied with the decision.
The resolution banning Cheney and Kinzinger was accepted by voice vote at the Republican National Committee’s winter meeting on Friday, with only a few audible “no” votes.
Some House Republicans have been lobbying to have the two removed from the House Republican Conference for some time now.
Disagreement within the GOP Over the RNC’s Censure
However, not all House Republicans agree with the reprimand. “I’m perplexed as to why this is climbing to the top of the heap when there are so many larger fish to fry.”
As Michigan Republican Rep. Peter Meijer, one of ten House Republicans who voted to impeach erstwhile President Trump last year, told the Washington Examiner on Friday, “It simply doesn’t seem productive.”
“This is a pitiful show of cowardice,” ex-Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele said of the reprimand. Likewise, the former RNC communications director, Doug Heye, spoke in a tweet about where he stands on all of this.
Heye declared that a party which “censures asserting those who struck Capitol police and wanted Mike Pence hanged were just regular civilians who partook in genuine political discourse is the worst kind of gaslighting and just embarrassing.”
Heye was a top RNC communications appointee in 2010.
Former Florida Republican Party chairman Al Cardenas said he would no longer contribute to the Republican National Committee.
According to the resolution, those who supported Cheney and Kinzinger were chastised over partaking in the “persecution of regular persons engaged in lawful political dialogue.”
Those engaged in “legitimate political dialogue,” as defined by the committee on Jan. 6, “had nothing to do with unrest at the Capitol,” according to RNC chairwoman Ronna McDaniel in a statement.
Republicans have emphasized the committee’s issuance of subpoenas to low-level leaders of the Jan. 6 ellipse demonstration, which forced them to pay for legal representation out of their own pockets.
