Mixed responses to RNC’s statement

Resolution accused House Jan. 6 committee of persecuting ‘legitimate political discourse’; Democrats outraged, some Republicans push back

Local Republican officials agree that property shouldn’t have been damaged when a violent mob stormed the Capitol Jan. 6, 2021, but vary on their understanding of the purpose of the day.

The Republican National Committee voted Feb. 4 to censure Reps. Liz Cheney of Wyoming and Adam Kinzinger of Illinois at the party’s winter meeting. Cheney and Kinzinger are the only Republicans who sit on a House committee that is investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection.

The censure accuses Cheney and Kinzinger of “participating in a Democrat-led persecution.”

The RNC resolution accused the House committee of leading a “persecution of ordinary citizens engaged in legitimate political discourse” — which drew outrage from Democrats and firm pushback from several Republican senators. The rioters who broke into the Capitol through windows and doors brutally beat law enforcement officers and interrupted the certification of Joe Biden’s election victory.

More than 700 people have been charged.

RNC Chair Ronna McDaniel denied that the “legitimate political discourse” wording in the censure was referring to the violent attack on the Capitol by supporters of then-President Donald Trump and said it had to do with other actions taken by the House committee investigating the insurrection. But the resolution drew no such distinction.

On the same day the RNC resolution passed, former Vice President Mike Pence rebutted former President Donald Trump’s claims that he could have overturned the results of the 2020 election.

“President Donald Trump is wrong,” Pence said. “I had no right to overturn the election.”

Pence described Jan. 6, 2021, as “a dark day in the history of the United States Capitol” and framed his actions as in line with his duty as a constitutional conservative.

“The American people must know that we will always keep our oath to the Constitution, even when it would be politically expedient to do otherwise,” he said. He noted that, under Article II Section One of the Constitution, “elections are conducted at the state level, not by the Congress” and that “the only role of Congress with respect to the Electoral College is to open and count votes submitted and certified by the States. No more, no less.”

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., Wednesday criticized the RNC for censuring Cheney and Kinzinger and said it’s not the party’s job to police the views of lawmakers.

“It was a violent insurrection for the purpose of trying to prevent the peaceful transfer of power after a legitimately certified election from one administration to the next,” said McConnell.

Porter County Republican Party Chairman Michael Simpson said he disagrees with the statement that Jan. 6, 2021, was a display of “legitimate political discourse.” He said people gathered at the Capitol because they “were displeased with the outcome of the election.”

While he believes the committee that is investigating the events of that day is “politically biased,” Simpson said those who participated in the “Jan. 6. riot” should be held responsible.

“It wasn’t a rally on the lawn. It wasn’t a protest on the lawn. They incited a riot and damaged government property and hurt people and it’s unacceptable,” Simpson said.

Lake County Republican Party Chairman Dan Dernulc said he believes “people were upset with what happened” in the November 2020 election. The day started peacefully, he said, but then people started becoming violent.

“There’s no reason people should be destroying property. It doesn’t look good. We start looking like a Third World country when stuff like that happens,” Dernulc said.

But, Dernulc said no one has been charged with insurrection.

However, Elmer Stewart Rhodes III, 56, of Granbury, Texas, the leader of the far-right Oath Keepers militia group and 10 other members or associates of his have been charged with seditious conspiracy.

The Cornell University School of Law’s website defines as “two or more persons in any State or Territory, or in any place subject to the jurisdiction of the United States, conspire to overthrow, put down, or to destroy by force the Government of the United States, or to levy war against them, or to oppose by force the authority thereof, or by force to prevent, hinder, or delay the execution of any law of the United States.”

Dernulc said he isn’t sure he would’ve voted to censure Cheney and Kinzinger.

“We have a big tent and there are people that are disappointed and disenfranchised by what Cheney and Kinzinger have done,” Dernulc said. “If we want to win this fall, we have to have some sense of we won’t (all) agree.”

State Rep. Michael Aylesworth, R-Hebron, said he was in disbelief when he read the resolution, and he believes it came from those who still follow Trump. Jan 6, 2021, was “a sorry day” for the country, he said.

“I had to laugh when I read (the resolution). I had to think of what planet they were on,” Aylesworth said. “Trying to overthrow the government of the United States for a man’s ego? Absolutely wrong.”

Aylesworth said those who participated in the insurrection should be held accountable to the highest level of the law. Those who went to the Capitol that day did not have a factual basis to do so, he said.

“They were a mob and acted in a mob action,” Aylesworth said. “They were egged on by the former president. They were wrong to do that.”

Aylesworth said he was pleased with Pence stating that Trump was wrong, albeit over a year later.

“I’m proud of our Hoosier guy speaking out and telling it like it is,” Aylesworth said.

Cedar Lake Town Council President Randy Niemeyer, R-5th, said “that is so far beyond my pay rate” when asked if Jan. 6, 2021, was a display of “legitimate political discourse.”

There was “a good number of people” who went to the Capitol to exercise their “freedom to assemble,” Niemeyer said. But, there were a “handful of bad apples” there, too, he said.

“The outcome was a lot worse because of that,” Niemeyer said. “Without being there, it’s hard for me to know what is real and not real on the news.”

Niemeyer said while there is evidence of fraud during the 2020 election, there was nothing that Congress could’ve done to change the result of the 2020 election.

However, the election results of all 50 states were certified in those states, showing there was no fraud despite conservative media reports that continue today.

Those who destroy property, whether that be on Jan. 6, 2021, or during the protests that took place after George Floyd was killed by Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin, should be prosecuted, Niemeyer said.

“Anybody who does that should be prosecuted,” Niemeyer said.