During an appearance on CNN this week, Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) said that he’d be inclined towards voting for a resolution to censure Rep. Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.) in response to an edited, partly animated video that the latter posted depicting him killing Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.). A group of Democrats have already gathered behind a censure resolution; the move would constitute a formal rebuke of Gosar by the House.
As explained on a House webpage, censure “registers the House’s deep disapproval of Member misconduct that, nevertheless, does not meet the threshold for expulsion,” adding that once “the House approves the sanction by majority vote, the censured Member must stand in the well of the House… while the Speaker or presiding officer reads aloud the censure resolution and its preamble as a form of public rebuke.” Asked by CNN host Wolf Blitzer whether he would vote for a censure resolution against Gosar, Kinzinger commented as follows:
‘My lean would be yes… I don’t care if it’s a Republican or a Democrat. We cannot in this country, Wolf, get to a point where using… anime, or regular videos, or deepfakes, or even just tweeted threats against a sitting member of Congress can be acceptable. It is never acceptable. It can’t be acceptable. And I think, barring any egregious language in a resolution to censure, I would intend to vote yes.’
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The problem is that, thanks in large part to the machinations of Donald Trump, violence — or at least openness to it — has become embedded within the GOP. Just this week, a staggering interview clip emerged in which Trump openly defended the group of his supporters who chanted “Hang Mike Pence!” during the violence at the Capitol in January. After journalist Jonathan Karl pointed out that certain rioters had been filmed belting out that chant, Trump said, “Because it’s common sense, Jon. It’s common sense that you’re supposed to protect [election security]. How can you — if you know a vote is fraudulent, right? — how can you pass on a fraudulent vote to Congress?” Pence had been supposed to be presiding over Congressional proceedings to certify the presidential election outcome at the time of the chant. At this point, is there just about any depth to which Trump wouldn’t go in the name of his election delirium?
