Name: Republicans Are Tough on Terrorism Until the Terrorists Are Republicans
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Republicans Are Tough on Terrorism Until the Terrorists Are Republicans

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AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementNine years ago, terrorists attacked U.S. diplomats and contractors in Benghazi, Libya. Four Americans died, and Republicans . Those investigations found no wrongdoing by President Barack Obama or then–Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, but they succeeded in painting Clinton as soft on terrorism, thereby damaging her 2016 presidential campaign. Now the same Republicans who decried Benghazi are downplaying President Donald Trump’s culpability—and their own—in the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.AdvertisementThe Republican frenzy over Benghazi spanned two presidential elections. In October 2012, Darrell Issa, the chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, opened hearings on the Obama administration’s “.” In a issued two weeks before that year’s presidential election, Issa and a fellow Republican lawmaker accused the administration of “endangering American lives” by ignoring the “escalating violence” that had preceded the attack. The letter also criticized Obama’s team for blaming the attack, , on unrelated protests over an .AdvertisementAdvertisementA daily email update of the stories you need to read right now.Thanks for signing up! You can at any time.After the election, Republicans launched more investigations. They created a House committee on Benghazi, which—as Issa and others would later —aimed to tarnish Clinton and cripple her candidacy. In of and in the committee’s , Republican Rep. Jim Jordan said Clinton had neglected warning signs before the attack and had played up the protests to avoid acknowledging the terrorism. At the 2016 Republican National Convention, Sen. Marco Rubio alleged that Clinton had “.” Sen. Ted Cruz, taking Clinton’s words , accused her of shrugging off “.”AdvertisementFive years later, at least after last week’s attack on the U.S. Capitol. That’s more than the number of Americans killed in Benghazi. But this attack wasn’t inspired by radical Islamists. It was inspired by Republicans. For weeks leading up to the storming of the Capitol, Cruz told his followers that Democrats were trying to “.” Issa pledged to challenge the “” in state ballots counts, and Jordan of . The night before the attack, Fox News host Lou Dobbs asked Jordan, “Are you absolutely convinced … that there was fraud and an effort to steal this election on the part of the radical Dems?” The congressman replied, “.”AdvertisementAdvertisementEven after the Jan. 6 assault, these lawmakers continued to spread the propaganda that had provoked it. Rubio said state officials had “.” Cruz noted that millions of Americans “believe the election was rigged,” and he scoffed that Democrats who “dismiss those claims” did so because “.” When an interviewer pointed out that other lawmakers had found no evidence of significant fraud, Cruz , “Voter fraud has been a persistent problem in our elections. We have seen it over and over again.” And when colleagues challenged Jordan to concede that “the election was not rigged or stolen,” he , saying only that the results had been officially certified.During the Benghazi hearings, Republicans lambasted Clinton for suggesting, even tangentially, that understandable grievances might have played a role in the Libyan attack. Now those Republicans are suggesting that legitimate grievances were behind the attack on Congress. Issa says the Americans who assembled to march on the Capitol were just “” in the election. Rubio says “.” The senator blames media bias for causing a “crisis of confidence” in elections, which in turn helped “,” meaning the attack. Such “blatant bias” from the media, according to Rubio, is “.”AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementThe same Republicans who blamed Islamic clerics for inspiring Islamic terrorism refuse to hold Trump responsible for inspiring the attack on the Capitol. Cruz says proposals to impeach the president or remove him through the 25th Amendment are just “vindictiveness” and “” from people who “hate Donald Trump.” Jordan says impeachment would be a slap at the “.” Issa brushes off Trump’s incendiary rhetoric as a “,” and he argues that impeachment would be “kicking him when he’s down.” When an interviewer asked Issa whether Trump bore any responsibility for the violence at the Capitol, the congressman pleaded, “.”AdvertisementMeanwhile, Jordan—who hounded Obama administration officials mercilessly for revising their story about Benghazi (initially they thought protests had driven the attack on the consulate; later they retracted that theory)—is now trying to whitewash his own record. In October, he tweeted, “.” A day before the attack, he blamed Trump’s loss on “,” and he warned that “.” But at a House hearing on Tuesday, the congressman piously insisted, “.”The response of these Trump apologists to last week’s insurrection makes a mockery of their hysteria over Benghazi. They’re doing exactly what they previously denounced: changing their story, rationalizing the motives behind the attack, and excusing the demagogue who inspired it. After four years of inquisitions into the deaths of four Americans in Libya, they’re accusing Democrats, in Issa’s words, of “.” Republicans stand firmly against terrorism, it seems, until the terrorists are Republicans.Slate is covering the stories that matter to you. Join Slate Plus to support our work. You’ll get unlimited articles and a suite of great benefits.AdvertisementYou’ve run out of free articles. Join Slate Plus to continue reading, and you’ll get unlimited access to all our work—and support Slate’s independent journalism. You can cancel anytime.Already a member?Already a member?AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementSlate relies on advertising to support our journalism. If you value our work, please disable your ad blocker.By joining Slate Plus you support our work and get exclusive content. And you'll never see this message again.

AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementNine years ago, terrorists attacked U.S. diplomats and contractors in Benghazi, Libya. Four Americans died, and Republicans . Those investigations found no wrongdoing by President Barack Obama or then–Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, but they succeeded in painting Clinton as soft on terrorism, thereby damaging her 2016 presidential campaign. Now the same Republicans who decried Benghazi are downplaying President Donald Trump’s culpability—and their own—in the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.AdvertisementThe Republican frenzy over Benghazi spanned...

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William Saletan

Slate is an online magazine that covers current affairs, politics, and culture in the United States. It is known, and sometimes criticized, for adopting contrarian views, giving rise to the term "Slate Pitches”. It has a generally liberal editorial stance. It was created in 1996 by former New Republic editor Michael Kinsley, initially under the ownership of Microsoft as part of MSN. In 2004, it was purchased by The Washington Post Company (later renamed the Graham Holdings Company), and since 2008 has been managed by The Slate Group, an online publishing entity created by Graham Holdings.

Republicans Are Tough on Terrorism Until the Terrorists Are Republicans

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