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Jan. 6 Redux: Insider Insurrectionists*
‘Presiding’ over a body in which he swapped meaningful control for a nominal title will be the short-lived pinnacle and end of Kevin McCarthy’s career in politics. A second attempted coup within as many years unfolded this week as we witnessed the humiliating irony of McCarthy juxtaposing his desperate need for self-affirmation with continuing self-debasement. How McCarthy got there and what we know he gave up in the process reveals everything about him and his leadership.
Meanwhile, President Biden spent his Jan. 6 afternoon at the White House awarding fifteen people the Presidential Citizens Medal. See Remarks by President Biden at Presentation of the Presidential Citizens Medal. The worthy recipients were “law enforcement officers who held back the mob even at the cost of their health and even their lives, people like Daniel Hodges, Michael Fanone, Harry Dunn, Caroline Edwards, Aquilino Gonell, Eugene Goodman, Howard Liebengood, Jeffrey Smith, Billy Evans, and Brian D. Sicknick.”
“Those defending democracy were the election workers who protected our system even at the cost of their jobs, their safety, and their peace of mind, people like Ruby Freeman, Shaye Moss, and Albert Schmidt. They were elected officials who refused to cave to pressure to throw the election, people like Jocelyn Benson and Rusty Bowers.” Letters from an American, January 6…