WASHINGTON — There was a time in the nation’s capital when borders mattered, and when they were crossed, the consequences were swift and severe.
Speaker Jim Wright, a Democrat, lost his job in 1989 on charges of corruption and profit. Nearly a decade later, Republican President Newt Gingrich lost his after disappointing midterm elections.
Gingrich’s expected successor, Robert L. Livingston, then admitted he had violated public trust by having an extramarital affair — even though he demanded President Bill Clinton’s resignation for having an affair with an intern. of the White House — and admitted single-handedly.
More recently, Senator Al Franken of Minnesota and Representative John Conyers Jr. from Michigan, both Democrats, were forced to leave Congress in quick succession on charges of sexual harassment during the #MeToo era. On the Republican side, Representatives Blake Farenthold of Texas, Patrick Meehan of Pennsylvania and Trent Franks of Arizona were also ousted on sexual impropriety charges.
But when it turned out that Republican House leader, California Representative Kevin McCarthy, had lied about his response to the deadliest attack on the Capitol in centuries and blamed President Donald J. Trump for it, there was little expectation that the consequences would soon be over. would be or serious – or whether there would be any at all.
Appearing is not a crime, but doing so to hide a complete turnaround in a case as serious as an attack on the citadel of democracy and the possible resignation of a president would once have been considered ending his career for a politician, especially for one who aspires to the highest position in the House of Representatives.
Not so for a Republican in the Trump era, when Mr. McCarthy’s lie was nothing particularly new; maybe it was just a thursday. On Friday, another member of the House, Georgia Republican Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, said under oath at an Atlanta administrative law hearing that she “couldn’t remember” advocating for Mr. Trump to impose martial law. to stop the transfer of power to Joseph R. Biden Jr., a position that seems hard to forget.
“It’s a tragic indictment of today’s political process — and lately the Republican Party — that truth doesn’t matter, words don’t matter, anyone can be elastic in areas that were once considered concrete,” he said. Mark Sanford, a former Republican governor of South Carolina who lied to the public about his whereabouts while pursuing an extramarital affair in South America and was censored by the United States House of Representatives. “You are now crossing boundaries and there are no more consequences.”
Mr. Sanford’s political comeback as a Republican member of the House ended when he crossed the one line that still matters in his party: He denounced Mr. Trump as intolerant and untrustworthy. Mr Trump called him “nothing but trouble”, and Mr Sanford was defeated in a 2018 primary.
It was Mr. Trump himself who showed how little repercussion could be for violations that once seemed unimaginable to the nation’s leaders in 2016, when he survived the release of leaked audio bragging about sexually abusing women — and went then went on to win the presidency.
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The episode was vivid proof, if any more were needed, that tribalism and party loyalty now outweigh any notion of integrity, or even firm policy convictions. But if there were questions about whether the end of Mr. Trump’s presidency would begin to restore old morals and crash barriers, the past few months have put those to rest.
Last month, Republican Representative Madison Cawthorn angered fellow Republicans by saying lawmakers he “looked up” had invited him to parties involving sex and cocaine. The allegations prompted a conviction from Mr. McCarthy, who told Republican lawmakers that Mr. Cawthorn later admitted they were untrue, even though the Republican leader stopped punishing him.
Mr. Cawthorn’s problems seemed to get worse Friday when Politico published photos of him in women’s lingerie, undermining the image he presents of himself as a socially conservative. Hardly chastised, Mr. Cawthorn responded on Twitter“I think the left thinks crazy vacation photos at a game on a cruise (taken before going to Congress) will somehow hurt me? They’re running out of things to throw at me.”
He then asked people to “share your most embarrassing vacation photos in the answers.”
In Missouri, Eric Greitens, who resigned as governor in 2018 on charges that he took off his lover’s clothes, tied her up to use equipment in his basement, photographed her and told her he would release the nude photos if she told anyone. tell of their affair, runs for the Senate like a Trump-loving conservative. When his ex-wife accused him of domestic violence in an affidavit last month, he insisted, nearing the top of the polls, saying she was being manipulated by Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the Republican leader, and Karl Rove, President George W. Bush’s former political adviser.
“The Greitens campaign has received tremendous support from donors and patriots across the country who see the deception and lies being spread by established RINOs,” said Dylan Johnson, his campaign manager, using the acronym for “Republicans in Name Only.” “. “Since they launched these baseless attacks in recent weeks, the campaign has seen an exponential increase in donations, signups and engagement.”
The final trials of Mr. McCarthy truthfully reminds him of the last time he took over the speakership and is instructive about how Mr. Trump has changed the landscape.
Then, as now, the California Republican’s problems really started when he spoke the truth. In 2015, after Chairman John A. Boehner handed over the gavel, Mr. McCarthy made the mistake of saying on camera that the appointment of a special commission to investigate the terrorist attack on a US government complex in Benghazi, Libya, would at the very least target was up in part by reducing the approval ratings of Hillary Clinton, who was Secretary of State at the time of the attack. Fellow Republicans were outraged, claiming their pursuit of the issue had nothing to do with politics. They gave the gavel to Representative Paul D. Ryan.
This time, the truth that Mr. McCarthy told was that Mr. Trump’s behavior on January 6 had been “appalling and totally wrong” and that he intended to ask for his resignation. The lie Mr. McCarthy told was that he hadn’t said such a thing and that DailyExpertNews had made it up, a statement that was quickly disproved by his recorded voice that Representative Liz Cheney, Republican of Wyoming, told exactly what The Times said he has. said.
But unlike in 2015, partisan hatred of the media and a desire for party unity could carry the day. Republicans said Friday they were particularly focused on gaining control of the House. Their voters are far more concerned with the policies of Mr. Biden and Speaker Nancy Pelosi than with the words of the House minority leader, most of whom have never heard of, said former Utah Republican Representative Jason Chaffetz.
“Conservatives and Republicans think it’s an unfair fight in the media; it is always a Republican issue that gets the ink and not the Democrats. They feel bullied,” said Mr. Chaffetz, that Mr. McCarthy was challenging for speaker in 2015, when he stumbled. “That’s not to justify anything, but the coverage in the national media is something that bolsters Republicans.”
When the news media dissected Ms. Greene’s testimony on Friday at a long-running hearing to determine whether she was an “insurgent” disqualified from reelection, Ms. Greene was raising funds for what she believes is prosecution. In the stands, she laughed off allegations that she had supported the rioters on Jan. 6, 2021, as evidence against her had been reported by DailyExpertNews and other media outlets she said could not be trusted.
In her fundraiser, she made the most of her day on the witness stand.
“The game is so stacked against me that I had to file a lawsuit to stop this charade,” she wrote to supporters before claiming without evidence that she would likely have to fight her battle to stay on the Supreme Court ballot. “Fighting their fraudulent lawsuit could cost me hundreds of thousands of dollars.”
Indeed, prosecution, not decency, is a watchword not just in Washington, but in state-level battles in which Republicans say their actions are only aimed at countering the overbearing efforts of “socialist” liberals and “awakened” corporations.
Florida Representative Charlie Crist, who was a Republican governor of his state before becoming a Democratic congressman, insisted that honesty was just as important today as it was when Abraham Lincoln was hailed as “Honest Abe” and a myth grew around George Washington. who admitted he had cut down a cherry tree because he couldn’t lie.
Crist now aspires to run for governor as a Democrat, and he said Friday that if he won a contentious primary, he planned to put fairness at the heart of his campaign to overthrow Republican Governor Ron DeSantis.
“It’s already part of this campaign,” he said. “It must and it must. It goes to the heart of integrity.”
For Republicans, Mr. Trump remains the ultimate arbiter of lines not to be crossed and the consequences to be paid. For now, the former president indicated that everything is fine: “I honestly think it’s all a big compliment,” Trump told The Wall Street Journal on Friday. If Mr. Trump decides that Mr. McCarthy should pay for his excesses — or for the truths he tried to hide — the price could still be high.
Take it from someone who knows: Mr. Sanford.
“We live in very strange times in politics,” he said as he hurried to his son’s rehearsal dinner. “I hope they can correct themselves, but I’m afraid they can’t.”