How Republicans plan to use ‘denialism' of Capitol uprising to re-elect Trump

There was a moment when it seemed the Republican Party was finally going to confront Donald Trump. The most senior Republican in the House of Representatives, Kevin McCarthy, who had telephoned Trump as rioters laid siege to the Capitol, urging him to call them off, placed the blame at his feet.

- ANDREW BUNCOMBE

“The president bears responsibility for Wednesday's attack on Congress by mob rioters,” McCarthy declared. “He should have immediately denounced the mob when he saw what was unfolding. These facts require immediate action by President Trump."

Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell said the angry crowds had been “fed lies”. “They were provoked by the president and other powerful people, and they tried to use fear and violence to stop a specific proceeding of the first branch of the federal government, which they did not like.”

Another senior Republican, Lindsay Graham, said he was done with Trump. “Count me out.” We now know how brief that confrontation was, more fleeting even than the short-lived moment of glory enjoyed by Washington DC's cherry blossoms that turn pink in spring and delight both locals and visitors to the nation's capital.

When Democrats sought to impeach Trump for a second time, charging him with inciting insurrection for a speech he gave to supporters on the morning of 6 January urging them to "fight like hell”, all but a dozen of Republicans voted to support the president.

Just days after his defiance from the floor of the House, McCarthy had flown to Trump's Florida home, seeking to placate a reportedly furious defeated president. They posed for a picture, Trump grinning manically and McCarthy staring into the camera as if he were a hostage.

Yet, if the image taken that day against the gilt and golden backdrop of Mar-a-Lago were a proof of life photograph for the Republican Party, it was very much Donald Trump's Republican Party.