Never forget what they said at the time

One year after the Beer Belly Putsch, what galls the most is that the Republican Party had its chance to put a stake in the heart of Trumpism once and for all. They wanted to do it. They were ready to do it. They said they would do it.

They didn’t do it.

Whether it was praising white supremacists, siding with Vladimir Putin or suggesting bleach as a coronavirus cure, there was nothing that Donald Trump could do to make the Republican party fall out of love with him.

Then came 6 January, and – for a brief moment – it seemed that was no longer true.

“Today all I can say is: count me out,” said Lindsey Graham, standing in a Senate chamber that just hours earlier had been overrun by a pro-Trump mob determined to overturn the 2020 presidential election. “Enough is enough.”

A week later he was joined by Kevin McCarthy, the Republican minority leader in the House of Representatives, who called on Trump to “accept his share of responsibility” for the deadly violence at the Capitol. Other allies…