Republican spats provide some political respite for Joe Biden

Friction in the GOP has taken some heat off the US president and his party’s own infighting, writes Chris Stevenson

Joe Biden speaks at the White House (Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)

After weeks of Joe Biden facing digs from Republicans about divisions in the Democratic Party over policy priorities, the shoe is now on the other foot. The Republican National Committee (RNC) voted on Friday to formally censure two of their own members in the House of Representatives, Liz Cheney of Wyoming and Adam Kinzinger of Illinois. Why? The pair are the only two from the GOP on a congressional select committee investigating the riots at the US Capitol on 6 January 2021.

The measure was passed at the RNC’s annual meeting in Salt Lake City, which brought together the committee’s 168 members. It read that the party would “immediately cease any and all support of them as members of the Republican Party for their behaviour, which has been destructive to the institution of the US House of Representatives, the Republican Party and our republic”.

In a statement ahead of the vote, Cheney made clear that the party is in thrall to Donald Trump. She said Republican leaders “have made themselves willing hostages to a man who admits he tried to overturn a presidential election and suggests he would pardon January 6 defendants, some of whom have been charged with seditious conspiracy”.

The party also faced criticism over its wording in the censure resolution, which said the events of 6 January involved “legitimate political discourse”. In a later statement, a distinction was made between protesters and those who had committed violence, citing “a Democrat-led persecution of ordinary citizens”.

The censure came the same day former vice president Mike Pence said Mr Trump was “wrong” for claiming that Pence could have overturned the 2020 election results. In a speech mostly based around criticising the Biden administration, most headlines focused on Mr Pence’s remarks against his former running mate.

This is in the same week the Bureau of Labour Statistics reported that 467,000 jobs had been added to the US economy in January – well above expectations – and alongside the fact the White House is planning to name Biden’s pick for the Supreme Court’s vacant slot by the end of the month. The last few days have provided some political respite for the US president, whose approval numbers have been in the doldrums for a while. He will hope it continues.