Scathing ad throws Republicans' own words about the Jan. 6 attack back in their faces

After the January 6, 2021 assault on the U.S. Capitol Building, Never Trump conservatives were hoping that the Republican Party would abandon then-President Donald Trump. But that didn’t happen; Trump’s stranglehold on the GOP is as strong as ever. And an ad by the Republican Accountability Project, released almost a year after the Capitol insurrection, slams some prominent Republicans who criticized Trump following the attack but went back to groveling before him.

The ad from RAP (formerly Republican Voters Against Trump) opens by asking, “Remember what Republicans leaders said after January 6?” And it goes on to show what House Minority Leader Kevin McConnell, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, Rep. Mike Gallagher of Wisconsin (not to be confused with right-wing radio host Mike Gallagher) and Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas had to say.

Never Trump conservative Bill Kristol tweeted the ad on January 4:

McCarthy, in the ad, is seen telling fellow members of Congress, on January 7, 2021, “The president bears responsibility for Wednesday’s attack on Congress” — followed by McConnell, on February 13, 2021, saying, “President Trump is responsible for provoking the events.” Cruz, in a January 7, 2021 clip, declares, “The president’s language and rhetoric crossed a line, and it was reckless” — and a clip from that same day shows Graham saying, “The president needs to understand that his actions were the problem, not the solution.”

After the clips, text from RAP reads, “They told the truth then. Why won’t they now?”

Indeed, McCarthy, Graham and Cruz — after initially criticizing Trump following the Capitol insurrection — flip-flopped and went back to being obsequious Trump sycophants. Unlike them, McConnell doesn’t go out of his way to fawn over Trump; rather, the Senate minority leader simply avoids talking about him. But the bad blood between Trump and McConnell is obvious, and Trump has been waging a campaign to oust McConnell from his GOP leadership role in the Senate — so far, without much success.