The GOP Is Anti-Truth, and It’s About To Catch Up To Them. No Matter What McConnell Tries To Do.

The DoJ targeted House Intelligence members Adam Schiff and Eric Swalwell, among others. Photo by Erin Scott / Reuters

“You can’t handle the truth.” 

— Col. Nathan J. Jessep in A Few Good Men.

Today’s GOP is afraid of the truth. Whether it’s Critical Race Theory’s examination of America’s long history of institutionalized racism, or the establishment of an independent and bipartisan commission to present findings on the insurrection of January 6, the modern GOP stands firmly opposed to not only the truth but the very idea of getting to it. 

Their reasons are both simple and complex. The simple truth is ugly and it will be painful to reveal it, and that terrifies those in power. Mitch McConnell understands, for example, that truth is a sharp lens through which the upcoming midterm elections might be viewed. If even a small number of GOP voters were to feel disheartened by a drumbeat of negative coverage of the illegal and corrupt practices of their leader, who is still somehow calling the shots from Mar-a-Lago, that might cause enough of them to sit out the election like they did in the Georgia Senate race run-offs, and the Democrats might yet hold their slim majorities in Congress. 

But deeper and more complex than this, if untruths are what currently motivates so much of the GOP base—from the Big Lie to pedophile Democrats—then truth is also a solvent that could readily dissolve what weak bonds remain. That is precisely why speaking the truth often creates intense, visceral reactions from many conservatives and Trump supporters. The election wasn’t stolen. QAnon is a false conspiracy. America is steeped in white supremacy. Try floating any of these ideas in deep red America, and you will find vehement and sometimes violent resistance to them.

Now the GOP minority in the Senate has come out against another quest for the truth. As reports have grown over unprecedented overreach by Trump’s Department of Justice, which subpoenaed from Apple not only the data records of congressmembers on the Intelligence Committee and their families but apparently also the records of its own White House counsel, Don McGahn, calls also have grown for full transparency by the Department. This includes testimony under oath from the Department’s leaders such as Bill Barr, Rod Rosenstein and Jeff Sessions, who now profess to have known exactly nothing about the subpoenas.

But even the targeting of Republicans such as McGahn failed to move the GOP to support an inquiry. Repeating his opposition to the idea of further probes of January 6, McConnell blasted any proposed investigations of the Department of Justice subpoenas, calling them “politically motivated.” Said McConnell, “I am confident that the existing inquiry will uncover the truth. There is no need for a partisan circus here in Congress.” (When he said this, a demon named Benghazi perished in flames of irony.)

The opposition by McConnell is significant because in order for the Senate to issue subpoenas, at least one Republican on the Judiciary Committee overseeing the DoJ would need to sign off on it. That is now unlikely as the GOP forms a wall in the Senate to further hide the truth.

But all isn’t lost. The House Judiciary Committee, which also has jurisdiction over the Department of Justice, isn’t bound by the same rules, and Rep Jerry Nadler (D-NY) has promised his panel will launch an investigation. “Like many Americans, I desperately want to see Attorney General Garland succeed in his goal of repairing the damage done by his predecessors and return a sense of ‘normal’ to the Department of Justice. It is an important and worthy undertaking,” Rep. Nadler said. “Accordingly, the House Judiciary Committee will investigate the Trump Administration’s surveillance of Members of Congress, the news media, and others.”

With the House investigation proceeding anyway, McConnell may be trying to stomp out only tiny fires as they pop up while wholly ignoring the inferno that might soon rip through Trumpland. Some time in the next few months, a Manhattan grand jury likely will indict the former president on tax and bank fraud charges. Trump’s legal troubles could grow from there, with investigations into election fraud, incitement to insurrection, obstruction of justice, and the misuse of inauguration funds still out there as legal threats. If and when indictments issue, Trump will be wounded, and as criminal proceedings get underway his public support, which is already dwindling, could erode even further amongst the general populace even if his stalwart base stands by him.

That is a truth that McConnell is refusing to face, but the hard math of it may catch up to him in 2022. The question then will be for McConnell, “Can he handle the truth?”