One of the most disturbing attributes of the modern Republican Party is its insistence on lying about easily verifiable facts. Donald Trump was obviously the master of this, insisting, among tens of thousands of other false or misleading claims, that wind turbines cause cancer, that he invented the phrase “prime the pump,” that you have to show ID to buy a box of cereal, and that he won the 2020 election. But, of course, he’s hardly alone in this regard, a point House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy took pains to emphasize on Thursday when he insisted he never supported the ex-president’s attempt to overturn the election, which he most certainly did.
Asked by CNN’s Manu Raju about McCarthy’s criticism of Democrats for contesting an Iowa House race despite having vociferously backed Trump’s campaign to block Joe Biden from becoming president, the Republican leader angrily swore he did nothing of the sort. “You’re saying something that is not true,” McCarthy snapped at Raju, who was, in reality, saying something that is extremely true.
As The Hill notes, two days after the election, McCarthy appeared on Fox News declaring “President Trump won this election, so everyone who’s listening, do not be quiet.” Later, he endorsed a Texas lawsuit challenging the results of the election in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Michigan, and Georgia. He raised no concerns about Trump spending months insisting the election had been stolen from him. In December, asked by reporter Lauren Koenig if he would accept the results of the election after the January 6 certification, McCarthy, according to Koenig, scoffed in her face and replied, “Why would I do that?” Then, on January 6, i.e. the day angry Trump supporters stormed the Capitol, McCarthy voted to reject the Electoral College results from Arizona and Pennsylvania. (Incidentally, McCarthy cast his vote after the fascist mob tried to overthrow the government, in case anyone was worried he’d grown a conscience while the rioters were trying to “hang Mike Pence.”) In other words, McCarthy is not just a liar but the kind of liar who doesn’t care how easy it is to prove he’s full of shit.
Yet even as the House Republican leader attempts to distance himself from the insurrection, he remains fully devoted to Trump. According to CNN, McCarthy has “sought to maintain a relationship” with the ex-president. In January, Politico reported that he stopped by Mar-a-Lago to “smooth things over,” believing, according to the outlet’s sources, that it was “in his interest to be on Trump’s good side.” After having suggested, in the immediate wake of the attack, that Trump bore some responsibility for the insurrection, McCarthy went on to say he didn’t believe the then president had “provoked” the mob, later adding that “everybody across this country has some responsibility” for the Capitol attack. Which, like his claim of not supporting Trump’s attempts to overturn the 2020 results, is completely and totally untrue.
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