The Republican National Committee took the unprecedented step on Friday of censuring Rep. Liz Cheney and Rep. Adam Kinzinger for participating in the committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol attack. And with Cheney running for reelection in Wyoming, the RNC is also honoring a rules change that greenlights the national party to spend money on her Trump-endorsed primary opponent if it chooses.
At its winter meeting in Salt Lake City, the full RNC passed the censure resolution in a quick voice vote with only a few audible nos. The initial resolution was going to reportedly include text allowing House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy of California to expel them from the conference but ultimately limited the measure to public rebuke. Cheney and Kinzinger have been under fire since voting to impeach former President Donald Trump over his handling of the Jan. 6 riots.
The resolution says the House Republican conference must “not be sabotaged” by Cheney and Kinzinger, “who have demonstrated … that they support Democrat efforts to destroy President Trump more than they support winning back a Republican majority in 2022.” In reference to the Jan. 6 committee, it describes the pair participating “in a Democrat-led persecution of ordinary citizens engaged in legitimate political discourse,” suggesting a broad effort across the party to dismiss the events at the Capitol that resulted in heated confrontations with police, arrests, injuries and deaths.
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Censures, which have been used by both parties against their own members, have no real ramifications and are instead a symbolic way of disciplining those who deviate from widely held party positions. In this case, national Republicans are showing no willingness to support elected officials who openly criticize Trump and aid in the effort to uncover information about what led to Jan. 6 and who in power, including those in the Trump White House, may have been involved.
While the censure is…