Republicans define the attack on Capitol Hill as "a legitimate political speech"

Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger, in a file photo. ANDREW HARNIK (AFP)

For the Republican National Committee, the insurrection that took place in the US Congress on January 6, 2021 and the events that provoked it are part of "a legitimate political discourse."

With those three words, what was Abraham Lincoln's party has approved the assault on North American democracy that cost the lives of five people and is now being investigated by a committee of the House of Representatives.

In that committee, encouraged by the president of the House, Nancy Pelosi, only two Republican congressmen participate, Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger.

This was declared this Friday at their winter meeting in Salt Lake City, Utah.

In an unprecedented act, the RNC (Republican National Committee) this Friday censored and reprimanded the two aforementioned politicians as, in its opinion, they were participating in “the persecution of ordinary citizens involved in legitimate political speech. ”.

Not only is this the first time in history that the Republican Party has reprimanded one of its active members of Congress, but it is doing so twice.

During the winter meeting of the Republican National Committee, which takes place in Salt Lake City (Utah), without prior debate and approved by word of mouth, the resolution admonishing Cheney and Kinzinger was passed.

The measure is strictly symbolic since the party does not have the authority to decide who sits or does not sit in Congress.

But even if it is so, what has become clear this Friday is the consensus to whitewash and minimize the attack by a group of supporters of then-President Donald Trump to reverse the election result, which had given victory to Democrat Joe Biden.

What until now were whispers is officially in writing, validating the assault and the actions that preceded it.

In a statement ahead of the resolution's passage, Cheney said the punitive measure marked "a sad day for Lincoln's party." “If the price of being willing to tell the truth and get to the bottom of what happened on January 6 and make sure those responsible are held accountable is worth a censure, then that is when I will definitely continue to stand up for what I believe to be the right thing to do. ", He said.

Something is happening in the Republican Party so that Liz Cheney, 55, who defines herself as a "Republican conservative", was first disowned and removed from the presidency of the Republican Conference in Congress - the third most important position in the House of US Representatives—and now failed.

Cheney belongs to the hard wing of the party and her DNA is engraved with a hawk's view of the world, like her father, Dick Cheney, vice president under George W. Bush.

A Wyoming representative since she won the seat in 2016, she gave her enthusiastic approval when Trump considered the possibility, five days into his term, of bringing back the technique of

(simulated drowning) terrorist suspects.

Adam Kinzinger, 43, is a veteran of the Armed Forces who, surprisingly now, came to Congress in 2011 as one of the young promises of the Tea Party, the group of

-establishment Republicans that can be considered the genesis of Trumpist populism and its dalliances with conspiracy theories.

However, once incorporated into the Washington machine, the congressman, representing a district in the suburbs of Chicago, forged a more traditional political profile and, over time, became critical of Trump.

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