Will Democrats do what is needed?

Monday, December 20

Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) is followed by reporters as he leaves a caucus meeting with Senate Democrats at the U.S. Capitol Building on December 17, 2021 in Washington, DC. Democrats continue to work on a path forward in regards to the Build Back Better and election reform legislation ahead of the Holiday recess.

Will Democrats do what is necessary to win politically?

Happy Monday! Here's what we have:

Today we are talking politics. We're leading with a column from Democratic Adviser Kurt Bardella about if Democrats can win politically after continued fumbles. We also have columns about Jan. 6, Republicans and Fox News hosts. Happy reading.

Will Democrats do what is necessary to win politically?

By Kurt Bardella

Democrats have a problem with fear and by that I mean, absolutely no one is afraid of them.

Last week began with the House Jan. 6 committee voting to hold former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows in contempt of Congress. You would think that the threat of criminal prosecution would provoke cooperation from someone like Meadows, who once championed strong congressional oversight, instead, he responded by going on Fox News late Monday.

A few days after the Meadows vote, a House pandemic committee released a stunning report revealing the extraordinary lengths to which the Trump administration went to undermine the initial response to COVID-19. Republicans ignored the report and continued their crusade against commonsense health mandates.

Today's Editorial Cartoon

Mike Thompson, USA TODAY

USA TODAY

•	December political cartoon gallery from the USA TODAY Network

Punish Trump and those in Congress who betrayed voters and America

By Jill Lawrence

The price of admission in a democracy is accepting that your side has lost. That's especially true when you are an elected official. And that's why elected leaders at every level – from county election boards and state legislatures to state officials, Congress, former President Donald Trump and all who enabled him – must be held accountable for threatening U.S. democracy and leaving it on a knife edge. They need to be expelled and forced out and prosecuted for putting America at risk.

These Trump acolytes fueled corrosive Stop the Steal lies about non-existent vote fraud and organized, supported and attended Stop the Steal rallies. Some plotted in legislatures, courts and Congress to nullify the 2020 presidential election by ignoring, contesting or simply throwing out legitimate votes. Some were on the Capitol grounds during the bloody Jan. 6 attack that left five people dead. At least one was part of the mob.

We don't know all the details yet of who did what and when they did it, but we will.

Hannity and Ingraham knew Trump was responsible for Jan. 6 violence

By David Mastio

As the nation approaches the first anniversary of the appalling Jan. 6 attack on our democracy, let's set the record straight on the text messages sent that day by Fox News hosts Laura Ingraham and Sean Hannity to then-President Donald Trump's chief of staff Mark Meadows. They have been consistent in condemning the violence by Capitol Hill rioters since then.

The words of their text messages don't reveal any damning hypocrisy. They were as outraged by the violence on the air as they were in the private text messages. Anyone who has attacked them as hypocrites on this score was wrong.

But, and it is a big but, the text messages do raise questions about whether Ingraham and Hannity have been straight with their viewers for nearly a year about who caused that violence.