I'd love to go this way with you but I just can't. McConnell, Pence, et. al. are finally saying/doing what appear to be the right things, only when FINALLY, they had no other choice. It had to literally come down to the White House being stormed before they would do the right thing. Up until this I really thought trump would retain enough followers to possibly be a threat in 2024 but I don't think this is recoverable even for him. He will retain a shocking number of followers as it will be laid bare (again) just how unhinged a wide swath of this country really is, but I really believe his days as kingmaker for the GOP at large, are over. Certainly he will retain and work to grow (hideously) the 'grassroots' types we saw yesterday; the saga of Donald J. Trump is far from over and will be an ongoing thorn in America's side. Lots of power to be had building support among well-armed, conspiracy theorizing, religiously conservative militia types.
I also think the republican party will be irreparably fractured; I honestly don't believe McConnell will be able to repair this damage. There are people on the right seriously calling for someone like Pence to be tried for treason for f**ks sake. Those types are going to double down on all this and it is likely to be a way bigger problem for the GOP than the likes of 'The Squad' will be for the Dems; appeasing the right politically is going to be really unattractive and untenable for McConnell if he hopes for election wins nationally for the foreseeable future . Lots 0f political ad fodder was generated yesterday; sorry to be cynical but no way around that, especially when after all this 6 Senators and 140 Representatives persisted in followed through with their objections.
McConnell, Graham, Pence, and the rest, they all chose to take the Donald Express because they either didn't give a crap what he did as long as it moved them closer to solidifying their power and control, or simply feared his base for whatever reasons. And, like all the trolls out there crying "Trump Derangement Syndrome" when the deranged one was the object of their love and affection and blind fealty all along, they CHOSE to ride this thing right to the edge of the cliff, and what do you know, off the cliff it went.
They can say what they want, backtrack all they want, harrumph about how awful this all is, but any halfway intelligent person will never forget what they did when they still had a choice.
Bullsh*t to whatever comes out of their mouths at this point.