“I am absolutely appalled by what the president has allowed some of his supporters to do,” claimed a Republican strategist who has been supportive of Trump.
Trump’s efforts to overturn the outcome of the presidential election broke his relationship with the GOP governing class that only reluctantly and warily embraced him following his romp through the 2016 Republican primaries.
“There will be no going home again,” announced a longtime Republican operative in Washington, D.C.
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Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell issued a scathing rebuke of colleagues amplifying Trump’s claims of voter fraud and challenging the results in multiple close battleground states.
"It would be unfair and wrong to disenfranchise American voters and overrule the courts and the states on this thin basis,” said McConnell. “And I will not pretend such a vote would be a harmless protest gesture while relying on others to do the right thing."
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Chastising the likes of Sens. Ted Cruz and Josh Hawley, McConnell declared he would “not pretend such a vote would be a harmless protest measure while relying on others to do the right thing."
Former House Speaker Paul Ryan had publicly denounced the planned election challenges earlier in the week.
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As protests turned violent, more Republicans broke with the president. "The President bears responsibility for today's events by promoting the unfounded conspiracy theories that led to this point," said Sen. Roy Blunt of Missouri, a member of the GOP leadership team. "It's past time to accept the will of American voters and to allow our nation to move forward."
"Today, the United States Capitol — the world’s greatest symbol of self-government — was ransacked while the leader of the free world cowered behind his keyboard — tweeting against his Vice President for fulfilling the duties of his oath to the Constitution,” Sen. Ben Sasse said in a blistering statement. "Lies have consequences. This violence was the inevitable and ugly outcome of the President’s addiction to constantly stroking division."
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The Nebraska Republican, like Utah Sen. Mitt Romney, has often criticized Trump. But Sasse also found ways to work with the administration and, unlike Romney, voted to acquit Trump on all impeachment charges during the Senate trial last year.
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House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy stopped short of saying anything negative about Trump but called the violence "un-American" and said the president needed to make a calming statement. Trump did urge an end to the violence but generally coupled this with stolen election comments.
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Pence has often served as the bridge between Trump and the Republican establishment in Washington. Before he was elected governor of Indiana, Pence served in the House GOP leadership.
After four uncomfortable, often contentious, years together, Trump and the party leadership he revolted against appear to be back where they started.
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