Conservatives line up to attack Republican congressman for denying 'Hang Mike Pence' demands were wrong
Sen. John Barrasso (R-WY) appeared on ABC Sunday where he dismissed concerns about former President Donald Trump, who said it's just "common sense" that his supporters chanted "hang Mike Pence" during the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.
"Let me just say the Republican Party is incredibly united right now," Barrasso said, deflecting questions. "And it's because of the policies of this administration. And I think the more that the Democrats and the press becomes obsessed with President Trump, the better it is for the Republican Party."
"So you have no problem with the president saying 'Hang Mike Pence' is 'common sense?'" host George Stephanopoulos wondered. Barrasso dodged the question again.
Sykes called it more of what is expected from today's Republican Party.
"It is very clear that threats of violence and menace has part of the political culture and obvious that there are elements of the Republican Party, but it's also obvious that dominant elements of the Republican Party that are willing to accept that," said conservative Charlie Sykes, editor of the Bulwark.
When it came to Barrasso's behavior, Sykes made it clear that assassination attempts against the vice president shouldn't be a question for Barrasso.
"I really did think that John Barrasso's refusal to comment on this is really a marker of the way that Republicans continue to move the window of acceptable behavior," said Sykes. "How many times over the last five years have we had the conversation. What's the red line? At what point will Republicans push back against this? Now we talk about a mob that was chanting 'Hang Mike Pence' that wanted to injure or kill the sitting vice president of Senator John Barrasso's own party and can't bring himself to criticize that or Donald Trump's rationalization of that. For anyone who thinks that this is going to go away and the adults in the room will stand up and reason will prevail, that is not happening and given the poll numbers, it is unlikely to happen any time soon."
Sykes wasn't alone in his anger over Barrasso's comments. Conservative Washington Post columnist Jennifer Rubin asked how anyone could maintain their GOP membership when officials won't even stand up to violence targeting their own members.
See the interview with Sykes below:
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