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On CNN Wednesday, former Ted Cruz staffer Amanda Carpenter suggested that former Vice President Mike Pence knows to "keep his mouth shut" so that he can have a future in GOP politics — and so that the angry mob that came after him during the Capitol invasion will make peace with him.

Enraged by Pence's refusal to reject his duty to count the votes certifying Joe Biden the winner, the mob chanted "Hang Mike Pence" and even built a gallows outside the Capitol. Pence reportedly fell out with Trump over inciting the riot that endangered his life, although sources now say they have patched up their relationship to an "amicable" state.

In an awkward exchange with reporters Wednesday, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) was asked about CPAC and former President Donald Trump. Republican Whip Liz Cheney (R-WY) was asked the same question, giving her own answer that she doesn't believe the GOP should be the Trump party. It was a moment that prompted one MSNBC host to crack up laughing about it.

"You can actually see Kevin McCarthy's soul leave his body at one point in this press conference," MSNBC's Chris Hayes joked. "He closes his eyes. It just floats out of him. Shortly thereafter, Jim Jordan tweeted President Trump is the leader of the Republican Party. You know what, Jim? You are right and Liz Cheney is wrong. The vast majority of Republicans are falling over themselves to associate with this unpopular loser. We're so used to it at this point that I don't think it strikes as weird as it is. It is truly upside down. It is very weird in Republican politics to see a party rally around a loser. Losers tend to believe in popularity and appeal to their supporters and their policy if they lose. Unless you're a Cubs fan, lovable losers aren't really a thing in politics."

On Wednesday, MSNBC's Joy Reid tore into Fox News host Tucker Carlson for his claim that "we could not find" QAnon — the pro-Trump conspiracy theory that the United States is controlled by a secret group of child-trafficking cannibals — and that the entire movement must not exist because there is no official website for it.

"On Fox News, Tucker Carlson is busy trying to downplay the pernicious role that QAnon plays in misinformation," said Reid. "Prosecutors cited the influence of QAnon in connection with the capitol siege. Tucker, ever the intellectual giant, says QAnon can't possibly exist. If it does, where is the QAnon website?"

Gov. Greg Abbott (R-TX) has spent the better part of the last two weeks being attacked for what Democratic critics call "failed leadership."

Rep. Ted "Cancún" Cruz (R-TX) infuriated his state so much that his approval has fallen 20 percent among Republican voters. There aren't updated polling reports on Abbott, but anger against him grew in the state, the Washington Post reported, even as power was being restored to frigid Texans.

On CNN Wednesday, Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) tore into Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) for his conspiracy theory-laden rant earlier in the week blaming a small group of anti-Trump "agent provocateurs" for orchestrating violence at the otherwise "festive" Capitol riot in January.

"Johnson just said he has no regrets, let me repeat, no regrets about using a hearing yesterday in Congress to promote a wild conspiracy theory that, in his words, 'fake protesters' instigated the Capitol riot on January 6th," said anchor Wolf Blitzer. "How disturbing is that to you to hear that from a United States senator?"

As Capitol attackers are slowly being identified and indicted, Americans are learning that many of them were former military or current and former police officers.

During her Wednesday show, MSNBC host Nicolle Wallace cited a Justice Department indictment for former Marine Thomas Webster, who used his Marine flag to beat a police officer. When the officer took the flag, Webster came after him with clenched fists.

MSNBC's Nicolle Wallace could not figure out why Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) would be opposed to a domestic terror law, but panelists explained that it's likely personal.

"The issue here is blame, and he is feeling the heat, obviously," said New York Times reporter Peter Baker. "He's been excoriated not just by Democrats, but even fellow Republicans like John Danforth, former senator from Missouri, Republican, and one of his mentors, who said endorsing him was one of his biggest mistakes. He's been excoriated by his home state newspapers. He's trying to distance himself from the actions of Jan. 6th in making the case to some of the more extreme people out there on the right that the government is really to blame, the government's excessive power is the real problem here, and that appeals to some in the crowd that day."

"The View" co-host Meghan McCain wondered why Democrats weren't doing enough to court Republicans like herself after Donald Trump's presidency ended, and then accidentally answered her own question less than a minute later.

The conservative McCain said the party's post-presidency embrace of Trump left many Republican voters up for grabs, and she thought Democrats would already be trying to reach across the divide to them after President Joe Biden won.

House Republicans opened an investigative hearing into the U.S. Postal Service by whining that embattled postmaster general Louis DeJoy was the victim of "insane, rabid" attacks.

The House Oversight Committee grilled former President Donald Trump's appointee about changes he made last year that led to widespread delays in delivery that complicated mail-in voting in a pandemic year -- but GOP lawmakers complained that Democrats were only trying to score cheap political points.

Republican consultant Ana Navarro said on Tuesday that she was embarrassed by Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) and that she was embarrassed for the people of Wisconsin.

Speaking to CNN's Don Lemon about the senator's claim that the Capitol attackers were "fake Trump supporters," she reasoned that Republicans have to make up conspiracy theories to justify dumb things.

Sens. Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Richard Burr (R-NC) invented a reason that they can't possibly support President Joe Biden's appointee to the Department of Health and Human Services. According to both men, the fact that Attorney General Xavier Becerra (D-CA) isn't a doctor is a sticking point with them.

MSNBC host Rachel Maddow took issue with the complaint from the Republicans because when they were asked to support former President Donald Trump's former HHS secretaries, they did so without complaint. None of those men were doctors either.

On Tuesday, following days of criticism for jetting off to Cancun while his constituents were snowed in, freezing, and burning furniture to stay warm, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) appeared on a right-wing podcast, where he raged against his neighbors for posting text messages of his family planning the trip, demanding that people "don't be a**holes."

On CNN that evening, former George W. Bush strategist Matthew Dowd tore into Cruz for his chutzpah.

MSNBC host Rachel Maddow started her show off detailing the day of Senate hearings over the attack on the Capitol Jan. 6. While there were a number of important issues, like the harrowing experience of police on that day, Maddow focused on Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI).

Johnson, Maddow explained, has gone down the rabbit hole of QAnon conspiracy theories and gone so far as to enter them into the Senate record.