Letters to the Editor: Why are Kevin McCarthy and Mitch McConnell afraid of a Jan. 6 commission?

To the editor: Flip and Flop, also known as Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Bakersfield) previously signaled that they might support a bipartisan commission on the Jan. 6 insurrection. Now, they do not.

Still under the control of Donald Trump, they are evidently afraid of retribution by the former president and his base.

Republican lawmakers want to “move on” from Jan. 6, but the stain of that day will be in the history books forever. Are they afraid we will learn of their party members’ culpability and possibly even collaboration with the insurrectionists?

Preservation of the GOP is the only goal of Republicans; protecting our democracy, not so much.

D.H. Sloan, Los Angeles

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To the editor: The only reason I can think of why McCarthy and other Republicans are opposed to the Jan. 6 commission is that they believe Trump would be found to have engaged in some kind of conspiracy or worse.

If there was even a chance of public exoneration, the Republicans would be clamoring for a commission, if not demanding it. The fact that they are not tells you everything you need to know.

Once again the GOP had an opportunity to choose the truth over Trump, and again it utterly failed.

Terry Walker, Sylmar

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To the editor: The Times Editorial Board rightly chides McCarthy for having “reverted to the apparently more comfortable role of Trump acolyte and apologist.”

For years Republicans have complained about welfare recipients, who they say refuse to take personal responsibility and get a “free ride.” Meanwhile, Trump has demonstrated from the time he took the oath of office that there are more ways to avoid personal responsibility than anyone ever imagined.

Nevertheless, McCarthy and other Republicans continue to stand by the president, doling out excuse after excuse and lie after lie.

That makes our former Republican president one of the biggest undeserving welfare recipients of all time.

Bernie Schaeffer, Goleta