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- Republicans are growing weary of the continued blowback from the RNC’s censure vote.
- They want the intra-party fights playing out publicly to remain behind closed doors.
- “We shouldn’t be talking about this,” said Sen. Tommy Tuberville. “You know, keep it in-house.”
Republicans in Congress have been consumed for several days by the fallout from the Republican National Committee’s vote to punish Reps. Liz Cheney of Wyoming and Adam Kinzinger of Illinois for their criticism of Donald Trump and participation in the panel investigating the January 6 Capitol siege.
As the intra-party fighting laid open by the RNC’s February 4 censure resolution — in part due to language that declared the Capitol attack “legitimate political discourse” — plays out in public, party members want the organization to put a lid on it and keep family matters behind closed doors.
At least three Republicans told Insider on Capitol Hill on February 10 that the blowback is distracting them from talking about what they say voters care more about.
“Our focus really should be on failed immigration policy, inflation, the overall economy, and the higher gas prices people are facing every day when they get up in the morning,” first-term Republican Sen. Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming, said.
Getting sucked into the latest news cycle, she said, doesn’t benefit anyone. “When the wave subsides, we’ll be back on message,” Lummis added.
Fellow Republican Sen. Tommy Tuberville of Alabama marveled at what he viewed as the lack of messaging discipline by party higher-ups. “We shouldn’t be talking about this. You know, keep it in-house,” he said.
He offered the RNC some free advice: “Do whatever you need to do. But we need to be working for the American people.”
Those concerns follow similar sentiments expressed by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Republican of Kentucky, who panned the RNC for targeting its own.
And House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy said the RNC should have done a better job of clarifying the language in its censure motion, which he said could have mitigated the ensuing firestorm. The California Republican told reporters on February 9 that the controversy was a missed opportunity for his party to focus voters’ attention on what the GOP views as failed Biden policies.
“I think the very best thing we should be doing as a party is focusing on what the American voter wants. And what they really want is lower their gas prices,” McCarthy said.
When asked about the controversy, Rep. Byron Donalds, a Republican of Florida, said that both parties have internal disagreements.
“That doesn’t mean we’re not focused on the job at hand which is making sure we take back the House — which we’re going to do,” Donalds told Insider.
The freshman lawmaker said he sticks to discussing issues that matter to his constituents while making the rounds in Florida’s 19th district.
“The first thing I tell people back home is just make sure you get out and vote. You know, control what you can control,” he said.
When asked if that confuses his constituents, given that Trump continues to make unfounded claims about rigged elections, Donalds said not at all. “He just wants to make sure that the processes are secure,” Donalds, who Trump endorsed last December, said of the former president’s fixation with the 2020 election he lost.
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