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Welp, Twitter did it. It’s more than four years overdue, but we’ll take it in this very dark hour as Americans hold their breath, grit their teeth, and cross their fingers until noon on Jan. 20, when sane leadership of the country will be restored.

Presumably Twitter, like many Americans, really does fear “the risk of further incitement of violence.” But just as presumably, Big Tech companies are eyeing incoming control of Washington by a bunch of Democratic lawmakers who are mad as heck and ready to rumble.

Anyway, as stated above, we’ll take it. Trump terrorized this country and the globe on Twitter for four solid years. It’s the end of an era—a really sick, crappy era. RIP @realDonaldTrump.

Good riddance.

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Following Donald Trump’s attempt to violently overthrow the U.S. government, Republicans have quickly retreated into two camps: Those who have had the sudden epiphany that they must break with Trump to save the party and those who are clinging to him like a life vest to buoy the party’s future.

Make no mistake, they have all been complicit in building Trump and his rabid base into the monster that has swallowed the party whole. Decades of GOP lawmakers carefully nurturing the ignorance of their followers left GOP voters uniquely susceptible to the manipulation of a buffoonish yet dangerous conspiratorial carnival barker like Trump. He is the pinnacle of their creation—able to say and do absolutely anything with impunity to the mindless acceptance and adoration of the Republican base.

The Republican lawmakers who want to stay the course even after Trump’s shameful betrayal of the country this week are an irredeemable stain on the conscience of America. That’s particularly true for House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, who eagerly supported a lawsuit backing Trump’s fraudulent challenge to the election results, voted to object to certification of those results even after Trump’s insurrectionists terrorized the Capitol complex, and then issued a statement Friday saying impeachment would “only divide our country”—never mind the fact that Trump poses an existential threat to the republic. McCarthy and his ilk helped plant the seeds of fascism Trump has supercharged, and they very obviously would gladly disenfranchise the American people to cement their enduring power if that opportunity were to materialize. 

But for those who now claim they want to break with Trump and indeed must do so in order to save the party, they can all start by telling the truth to their constituents—that Trump bamboozled his supporters, betrayed his oath of office, and must be removed from office immediately. Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah at least got the truth part of that equation right when he spoke from the Senate floor on Wednesday following the melee. “The best way we can show respect for the voters who were upset [by the election results] is by telling them the truth,” Romney said.

The Republicans who now seem eager to leave Trump in the rear view mirror vary between people like Romney, who has at least repeatedly criticized Trump and even voted against clearing him of impeachment charges, to squishy opportunists like Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, who has consistently stoked Trump fervor over the years. Rubio, who unequivocally celebrated the caravan of Trumpers that forced a Biden campaign bus off a Texas highway in November, has now lamented the siege at the Capitol as a “national embarrassment” and told GOP voters that “some misled you” about the Vice President’s ability to reject certification. 

Somewhere in between there’s someone like Sen. John Thune of South Dakota, a member of the GOP leadership that has done everything in its power to coddle Trump while capitalizing on his populist appeal. 

“What happened in Georgia, what happened today are all indicative that we have to chart a course,” Thune told the New York Times. “I think our identity for the past several years was built around an individual, we got to get back to where it’s built on a set of principles and ideas and policies.” Whatever Thune’s motivations, his diagnosis of the problem is at least somewhat clear eyed. 

But if any of those Republicans are serious about redeeming and reclaiming their party at any level, they must start by making an unmistakable break with their past. That seems unlikely as only one GOP senator (Senator tally here) has expressed an openness to considering the removal of Trump: Sen. Ben Sasse of Nebraska. Even Romney advised Americans to just “hold our breath for the next 20 days” until Biden is sworn in rather than invoke the 25th Amendment. Sorry, but that’s not going to cut it. It won’t save the Republican Party and it certainly won’t save the country from the party, which is now little more than a haven for radical extremists awaiting an opportunity to mount a violent coup.

In fact, just look at where the GOP rank and file in the states are. State party chairs, thrilled with the post-election results of their down-ballot candidates, have said they don’t want to change a thing about the Trumpist direction of their party despite Trump’s failure at the top of the ticket.

“As far as I’m concerned, everything’s great,” Stanley Grot, a district-level Republican Party chair in Michigan, said last month even after Trump lost the state by some 150,000 votes.

On Thursday, Trump was reportedly “greeted with applause when he dialed into a breakfast at the winter meeting of the Republican National Committee.” On Friday, RNC chair Ronna McDaniel betrayed not even a hint of remorse or reflection about Trump’s insurrection when she enthusiastically told the gathering, “Democrats, get ready. Buckle your seatbelts, because we are coming.”

If any congressional Republicans truly believe it’s time for a different course, they are going to have to take decisive action. These weak whiffs of passive resistance nearly all of them are currently offering are a pathetic mismatch for the present political moment. One would think they might have learned a little something after spending four years registering their discontent by whispering to each other in the cloistered recesses of the Congress. 

And if they’re not concerned enough about the preservation of the country to take a stand, they may want to think about the fact that if the pitchforks come the next time, they won’t be coming for Democrats alone. Just ask Vice President Mike Pence.

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Some violent sedition happened while I was drawing this cartoon about the worsening pandemic. 2021’s going great!

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The people who besieged the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday were not merely rioters and insurrectionists. Some of them appear to have been intent on taking hostages and murdering them, and there are signs that the attempt was carefully planned out.

Photo evidence shows people who entered the building came prepared to take hostages, and to bind them with zip ties. Witnesses say talk was rampant about executing Vice President Mike Pence—who only an hour before the riot had declined to follow Donald Trump’s urgings and object to the Electoral College results—as well as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer.

The rioters could be seen on video chanting “Hang Mike Pence!” as they entered the Capitol. Getty Images photographer Win McNamee captured the startling image of a masked and armed man clambering about Senate chambers—where Pence had been presiding over the proceedings only an hour before—with a parcel of premade zip cuffs. Other photos showed multiple invaders carrying restraints—in one case was a man identified as a military veteran with a security clearance.

Reuters photographer Jim Bourg, who was with the rioters, reported:

I heard at least 3 different rioters at the Capitol say that they hoped to find Vice President Mike Pence and execute him by hanging him from a Capitol Hill tree as a traitor. It was a common line being repeated. Many more were just talking about how the VP should be executed.

Journalist Andrew Feinberg reported that the rioters went on the hunt for Pence, Pelosi, and Schumer upon gaining entry to the Capitol. White nationalist Tim “Baked Alaska” Gionet livestreamed himself invading Pelosi’s office and vandalizing it while making mock phone calls from it.

The entire scenario these invaders seemed to have in mind bore more than a passing resemblance to the plot dreamed up by the members of Michigan’s “Wolverine Watchmen,” who before their arrests by the FBI for conspiring to kidnap Gov. Gretchen Whitmer actually planned to invade the state Capitol in Lansing, take public officials hostage, and then televise or livestream their executions.

And there are indications that the invasion of the Capitol was carefully planned, perhaps with the participation of the Oath Keepers, a far-right group that specializes in recruiting and radicalizing military and law enforcement veterans. The organization’s leader and founder—who as a speaker at previous pro-Trump rallies in Washington, D.C. and had urged Trump to use the Insurrection Act in order to declare martial law—was spotted at Wednesday’s rally, and members of the group not only were seen appearing to prepare for the assault on the Capitol, but were seen on video shot by journalist Ford Fischer playing a key role in the initial breaching of its security perimeter.

Oath Keepers have played a leading role in whipping up groundless conspiracist hysteria over what they call the “stolen election”—and even before the election had called for Trump to declare martial law. Rhodes urged his members to prepare for “civil war,” and after the election, Oath Keepers’ rhetoric veered into outright threats of violence against public officials and journalists.

Whichever former law enforcement officials might be involved in these schemes are seemingly oblivious to the existence of federal laws that make even planning to kidnap members of Congress a crime punishable with life imprisonment (namely, 18 U.S. Code § 351).

Nothing appears to deter these extremists, who are currently basking in massive online adulation by their far-right brethren for the attack on American democracy as Jared Holt, analyst for the Atlantic Council, explained to Greg Sargent of The Washington Post.

“By all measurable effects, this was for far-right extremists one of the most successful attacks that they’ve ever launched,” Holt said. “This will be lionized and propagandized on likely for the next decade.”

Moreover, he explained, the insurrectionists’ success in overtaking the building will be a long-term talking point for the radical right: “These communities are discussing the attack as some sort of validation that it actually is possible for them to exert their power like this and achieve results. They’re talking about this as the first stab in a greater revolution.”

Certainly, the insurrectionists Wednesday had no doubts that they would be returning with even greater violence in mind. Multiple rioters verbally attacked police officers trying to hold the line, telling them, as one of them did afterwards: “Traitors get the rope. Traitors get the noose. Wait till we come back with rifles, motherfucker. You think that’s an idle threat?”

One of the Capitol invaders interviewed by Fischer blamed Mike Pence for the day’s violence, notably the shooting of an insurrectionist near the House chambers by a Capitol Police officer.

“We’re not putting up with this tyrannical rule!” he shouted. “If we gotta come back here and start a revolution, and take all of these traitors out, which is what should be done, then we will.”

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One Republican state legislator has been taken into federal custody, but he was far from alone among Republican lawmakers in participating in the terrorist attack on the U.S. Capitol. West Virginia Del. Derrick Evans was taken from his grandmother’s home by people in FBI jackets Friday afternoon after he filmed himself in a crowd storming the Capitol.

One down. But the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee has pulled together a list on which Evans is just one of 10 current state legislators participating in the attack on the Capitol, and that’s if you don’t count the two outgoing state representatives, or the one former one, on the scene. Most of them denied having gone into the Capitol, although former Pennsylvania Rep. Rick Saccone posted a video ranting about “storming the Capitol,” go figure.

The lawmakers’ stories—and denials—contain some unintentional comedy. For instance, Tennessee Rep. Terri Lynn Weaver insisted, “There wasn’t any violence going on here,” all evidence to the contrary.

Virginia state Sen. Amanda Chase, who previously called on Donald Trump to impose martial law, says she didn’t even go near the Capitol. But she tried to have it both ways on the terrorist attack, claiming on the one hand that “infiltrators” were responsible and on the other that it was just a natural result of patriots being backed into a corner, saying, “When you give them no other options, when you cheat them of their elections, when you take away their constitutional rights and freedoms, you’re backing patriots like myself into a corner. We would like to have a peaceful [resolution] to the events of today, but as you can see, there are already many patriots that have … we’ve had enough.”

Arizona Rep. Mark Finchem echoed Carpenter, saying the riot was “what happens when the People feel they have been ignored, and Congress refuses to acknowledge rampant fraud” while also blaming it on leftist infiltrators.

Michigan Rep. Matt Maddock spoke at a Tuesday rally that was a prelude to Wednesday’s events. His wife, who is poised to become co-chair of the Michigan Republican Party, condemned the invasion of the Capitol after the fact—and after she also spoke at that Tuesday rally, where she said: “We never stop fighting.” Matt Maddock was not answering reporters’ questions about what he did on Wednesday.

You have to wonder if there are more to be found out—or if any of the “but I didn’t inhale”-type denials will break down as more information comes out about what happened.

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A handful of elected Republicans—most notably Adam Kinzinger—have taken a stand in favor of giving the squatter in the White House the 25th Amendment treatment and ousting him from power. This is happening against the backdrop of some Cabinet members resigning to get themselves out of having to vote on the amendment so they can launch the process of scraping the Trump taint off their résumés and reputations. Given that Vice President Mike Pence is a key character in the process and has said he doesn’t favor employing the 25th, that preemptive approach to dumping this dangerous man is off the table anyway.

The only remaining option—other than letting Trump serve out his term doing who knows what new damage to the nation in the dozen days he has left to muck things up—is impeachment No. 2. Democrats are meeting today to discuss how to move forward. So far, 159 of them in the House (71% of the Democratic caucus) and 22 in the Senate (not quite half the caucus there) have made their support for impeachment clear. They are serious with good reason. As House Speaker Nancy Pelosi noted at a meeting today, she has asked the Joint Chiefs chairman for options to prevent “an unstable president from initiating military hostilities or accessing the launch codes and ordering a nuclear strike.”  

If the Republican Party were made up of a majority of principled men and women, as is regularly asserted by its apologists, there ought to be a deluge of its congressional delegations joining those Democrats in seeking impeachment. But—and I know readers will be shocked and surprised—they aren’t.

Kinzinger has said “maybe” to backing impeachment. Sen. Mitt Romney hasn’t gone that far, but he seems like a possible “yes.” He was the only Republican senator to cast a vote to convict Trump during his impeachment a year ago, accusing him of “an appalling abuse of the public trust,” an assessment that looks exceedingly mild given what has happened in the 12 months since then. The only Republican who voted for articles of impeachment in the House was Justin Amash. But he is no longer in the party nor in Congress. 

Okay, sure, there are differences in the depth of toadiness congressional Republicans have stooped to during the past four years. But even those few who haven’t been in the gang of cringing, fawning, bootlicking ass-kissers haven’t genuinely challenged Trump on any matter of importance. There’s no need for guessing why. Cowardice ranks right up there. But mostly it’s because they love what Trump has been doing to the courts, to the environment, to taxes, to voting rights, and on and on through the lengthy roster. It’s the extremist Republican agenda that’s been half a century in the making. He’s fulfilling some of the right-wing wishes unachieved by Ronald Reagan and the Bushes. 

Yes, some of today’s Republicans see him as flamboyantly vulgar, egotistical above average, immensely slothful, laudatory of Nazis, ignorant of details, recklessly inciting, and viciously begrudging, but damn, he gets stuff done that the party wants done. And for added benefit, Trump stands firm against the demands of people of color and pisses off Democrats on a daily basis. Because they know full well they’ll be on his shit-list if they cross him in any way, they aren’t even willing to risk that for the 12 days he’ll remain in office if not removed by the Senate.

It’s started already, but soon, among the Republican Party’s timeservers on the make, the effort to cleanse themselves of the fecal Trump scent will be in full swing. Lindsey Graham will be telling voters they’ve never heard of the man. But most of the toadies will keep toadying. Given that 74 million Americans voted for Trump, it remains to be seen which campaign method will succeed.

If they’re genuinely serious about even partially redeeming themselves, of decontaminating, Republicans could make themselves a helluva lot more convincing in coming years to the majority of Americans by reaching across the aisle and signing up now with the Democratic impeachers. They won’t. They have neither the principles nor the guts for it. And those are key reasons our nation is in the several predicaments afflicting it.

Some critics argue that the Republican Party is dead. That Trump has killed it. Such prognostications aren’t new, but they are premature. What will happen, as anybody who lived through 2020 is all too well aware, is unpredictable. But if the end does come, Republican unwillingness to have stood up against Trump—even in the face of an armed assault on the Capitol that left five dead and Congress sheltering in place like third-graders practicing “active shooter” drills—will certainly have provided some nails in the party’s coffin.

This is no drill, Republicans. Take the first step in proving you won’t be as corrupt and evil and lickspittle as you have been by getting on board and helping evict Trump. Until then, spare us from hearing any of you dare to call yourself a patriot.

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House Democrats met by conference call Friday, the outcome of which is articles of impeachment against Donald Trump will be ready to be introduced on Monday. A source told Reuters the articles drafted by Representatives David Cicilline, Ted Lieu, and Jamie Raskin will be introduced in Monday’s pro forma session. There will likely be an objection from Republicans, so they probably will have to bring the whole House back to bring the resolution formally Tuesday or Wednesday.

A draft of the measure charges Trump with “inciting violence against the government of the United States” in his effort to overturn the results seating President-elect Joe Biden. The articles also cite Trump’s efforts to get Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to “find” the votes to give the state to him. “President Trump gravely endangered the security of the United States and its institutions of government. He threatened the integrity of the democratic system, interfered with the peaceful transition of power and imperiled a coordinate branch of government,” the draft legislation states. “President Trump thus warrants impeachment and trial, removal from office, and disqualification to hold and enjoy any office of honor, trust, or profit under the United States, [emphasis added]” it concludes. That says it all.

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Asked about the effort at a press conference Friday, Biden said that he’s long thought Trump was unfit for office and that was a key reason for his run. He added “What the Congress decides to do is for them to decide. … So we’re going to do our job, and Congress can decide how to proceed with theirs.” Pressed again on what he would advise congressional leaders, Biden said “I’d tell them that’s a decision for the Congress to make. I’m focused on my job.” As he should be.

This is a decision for Congress, and it’s vitally important that they move forward with it. Not just to make sure Trump is barred from ever holding office again. Not just to make sure that no Republican president ever, ever tries this again in the future. Not just to hold all of the Republicans in Congress who have participated in this sedition accountable, forcing them to face the American people and vote.

To make the country whole again. To restore the rule of law. For that effort, thank you to every Democratic member of Congress responsible.

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The official talking points for Republican lawmakers have been issued, and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy is on it. Let’s just preface this with the context: five people have died—two of them killed—by insurrectionists attempting to overthrow the government and the results of the presidential election. That was instigated by Donald Trump and there is every indication that this wasn’t a rally gone bad. It was a full-fledged and plotted coup attempt. Plotted. In the White House. Blood was shed and lives were lost in the United States Capitol. The people’s house. At Trump’s behest and orders.

More context. McCarthy returned to the House Chamber in the aftermath of that insurrection and occupation of the Capitol—walking past wreck and ruin of the building, broken furniture, shattered glass, bullet holes, human waste—and voted with 139 other House Republicans to throw out the votes of the citizens of Arizona and Pennsylvania. Based on QAnon lies and conspiracy theories and Trump fantasies. With that context, that waste of skin and oxygen gives the GOP narrative: “Impeaching the President with just 12 days left will only divide our country more.”

As if literally nothing divides this country more than instigating and defending armed insurrection. There’s three more paragraphs of that seditious drivel which you need not be subject to. Just let it be known that the highest-ranking member of the Republican Party in the House is unapologetically standing with the traitors. Oh, and as recently as 2016, he believes that Vladimir Putin pays Trump. McCarthy is a traitor. He should be expelled.

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Texas congressman and House Committee on Foreign Affairs vice chair Joaquin Castro says he’s preparing legislation that would bar federal buildings and property from being named after Donald Trump, who incited a violent mob to attack the U.S. Capitol this week and to very likely try to take hostage members of Congress.

“President Trump incited an insurrection that damaged some our nation’s most significant and sacred federal property,” Castro said in a series of tweets. “Most importantly—let us learn from our past. Donald Trump should never become a future generation’s confederate symbol.”

Castro is among the over 150 House Democrats and counting who support impeaching Trump, and has also called on Vice President Mike Pence to invoke the 25th Amendment to begin the process of removing him from office.

“We must send a clear message not only to the American people, but to the world that the United States is a resilient democracy governed by the rule of law—of, by, and for the people,” Castro tweeted on Thursday. “I support invoking the 25th amendment and impeachment to remove President Trump from office.”

Castro has also called for the resignation of Texas Republican Sen. Ted Cruz for his role in inciting this violent mob. “He has conducted himself shamelessly,” Castro told The Texas Tribune on Wednesday, “and I think he has done this because he believes it’s the only way, the only chance that he has to win the Republican nomination for president.” 

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In the opening salvo of their presumed 2024 presidential bids, Republican Sens. Josh Hawley of Missouri and Ted Cruz of Texas jockeyed to claim credit for being the leader of the Sedition caucus—the GOP senators who would band together to oppose congressional certification of the election results.

Hawley was the first GOP senator to take the nearly unprecedented step of announcing he would object to certifying the vote followed by Cruz, who claimed credit for organizing a cohort of their colleagues. By the time Sen. Kelly Loeffler of Georgia erroneously concluded the sedition movement was her ticket to prevailing in her hotly contested runoff, 13 GOP senators had formally announced their intention to back Trump’s reckless and, frankly, treacherous claims that the election was fraudulent. 

But after Trump’s armed insurrectionists stormed the U.S. Capitol Wednesday and terrorized lawmakers, Loeffler was also among the first of the Senate Sedition caucus to conclude that going through with her pledge was a fundamental betrayal of U.S. democracy. Plus, she had already lost her election.

“I cannot now in good conscience object to the certification of these electors,” Loeffler said on the Senate floor Wednesday night after the body reconvened. “The violence, the lawlessness and siege of the halls of Congress are abhorrent.” 

Loeffler’s no profile in courage, and neither are the other four GOP senators who backed off objecting following the Trump-inspired terrorist attack on the Capitol complex. But their reversal did shine a spotlight on the craven opportunism of the GOP senators who still stood with Trump: Hawley, Cruz, Cindy Hyde-Smith of Mississippi, Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming, John Kennedy of Louisiana, Roger Marshall of Kansas, Rick Scott of Florida, and Tommy Tuberville of Alabama. In case you’re wondering how bright the future of the Senate GOP is, six of those eight senators were elected in the last two years.

But governance aside, Hawley and Cruz likely kneecapped their own presidential bids before they ever got off the ground. Oh, they’ll still try, but it’s hard to imagine them finding a constituency to fuel their bids over the long haul. First of all, if Trump runs (hopefully he’ll be in jail instead), there’s no way they can run after going to the mat to claim 2020 had been stolen from him. The entire base they were appealing to will be sucked up by Trump.

Second, good luck gaining any momentum among moderate-to-conservative-leaning voters who watched in horror as Trump’s terrorists breached the Capitol and overtook the complex. Not only has the Kansas City Star editorial board slammed Hawley for having “blood on his hands,” but Missouri GOP patriarch Jack Danforth issued a stinging rebuke of Hawley’s involvement in the national disgrace:

“Supporting Josh and trying so hard to get him elected to the Senate was the worst mistake I ever made in my life,” Danforth said. “Yesterday was the physical culmination of the long attempt (by Hawley and others) to foment a lack of public confident in our democratic system. It is very dangerous to America to continue pushing this idea that government doesn’t work and that voting was fraudulent.” 

Even capitalists are pulling back from Hawley—Simon & Schuster yanked his book deal on Thursday, saying it “cannot support Hawley after his role in what became a dangerous threat to our democracy and freedom.” Hawley shot back on Twitter, “We’ll see you in court.” Hawley is morphing into the likeness of his mentor Donald Trump before our very eyes—spiteful, rage-y, and headed to court.

And a major Missouri GOP donor, David Humphreys, has called for Hawley to be censured. The dual hits from highly influential Republicans Danforth and Humphreys is seismic in Missouri politics.

By Friday morning, the editorial boards of Missouri’s two biggest newspapers, the Post-Dispatch and the Star, were calling on Hawley to resign. 

For his part, Cruz has spent the last 48 hours trying to reverse engineer himself as a voice of reason while Hawley takes the brunt of the blowback. 

“Devastating,” Cruz tweeted Thursday night after news of the death a Capitol Police officer injured in the melee. Cruz added that he and his wife were “lifting up in prayer the family” of the officer. Cruz also decided Thursday night was a good time to try to distance himself from Trump’s actions—actions he helped to elevate by, in his own words, “leading the fight to reject electors.” 

Cruz told reporters, “The president’s language and rhetoric often goes too far. I think, yesterday in particular, the president’s language and rhetoric crossed the line and it was reckless.”

Good luck, Cruz. Pretty sure people will remember him trying to elbow his way past Hawley to claim leadership of the Sedition caucus.

But on top of the challenges of Cruz and Hawley will have in finding a constituency to fuel any potential presidential bid, their ignominy has only served to elevate the GOP 2024 hopefuls who won’t be burdened by the scarlet “S” for seditionist, as conservative columnist George Will put it. Figures like Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas and Ben Sasse of Nebraska will now crow endlessly about their rejection of Trump’s final bid to overthrow the U.S. government. It’s a low bar, but frankly no bar is low enough for the GOP, and Cotton and Sasse have now cleared it.  

Finally, Hawley and Cruz didn’t make any friends in their own caucus either, which will impact their ability to show leadership in the Senate. The vast majority of GOP senators didn’t want to take that certification vote because it forced them to choose sides between Trumpism and reality, which will inevitably make their own paths to reelection more difficult. In fact, Mitt Romney got a highly unusual bipartisan ovation on the Senate floor after he rebuked his fellow senators following what he rightly called “an insurrection incited by the president of the United States.”

The usually wooden Romney almost seethed disgust as he shot down the flimsy rationale of the Sedition caucus. “For any who remain insistent on an audit in order to satisfy the many people who believe that the election was stolen, I’d offer this perspective: No congressional audit is ever going to convince these voters, particularly when the president will continue to say the election was stolen,” Romney said. “The best way we can show respect for the voters who were upset is by telling them the truth.”

The GOP—a party overrun by conspiracy—won’t begin telling the truth anytime soon. At present, the party’s very existence relies on the widespread ignorance of its own voters. Nonetheless, sometimes the truth still has the ability to haunt GOP lawmakers, particularly when it’s ugly as it was this week.