Many Republican lawmakers supported the Capitol insurrection and sought to overturn the 2020 Election results. And they should be expelled from Congress for it.

It’s a sad fact, but several Republican lawmakers should be held accountable for inciting or supporting the violent coup attempt Trump supporters executed on January 6th. Several House Republicans directly helped organize and plan January 6th, including Reps. Majorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) Mo Brooks (R-Ala.), Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), and Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.).

Boebert herself provided information to the insurrectionists about House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-Calif.) location as the violence unfolded. Jordan and other Republicans, including House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), spoke to Trump during the insurrection.

Senators Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) ginned up the insurrectionists and tried to pressure former Vice President Mike Pence to reject the electoral vote count.

All of these Republicans and several others sought to overthrow our democracy and install Donald Trump as a dictator, yet they are still in Congress and are a bigger threat than ever.

USA Today columnist Jill Lawrence made the case for expelling them this week.

“Fifteen senators have been expelled, one in 1797 for plotting to give U.S. territories to Great Britain and, more than 60 years later, 14 because of ‘support for Confederate rebellion,'” Lawrence wrote. “The House has only expelled five members – two for corruption and three for ‘disloyalty to the Union; fighting for the Confederacy.'”

“Support for a rebellion and disloyalty to the nation were hallmarks of the Jan. 6 insurrection,” Lawrence continued. “As U.S. District Judge Randolph Moss put it in July when he sentenced defendant Paul Hodgkins, a Tampa, Florida crane operator who carried a Trump flag into the building: ‘He was staking a claim on the floor of the United States Senate, not with the American flag, but with a flag declaring his loyalty to a single individual over a nation.'”

Indeed, all of these Republicans should be held accountable in the harshest terms, or else they will be enabled to do it again.

That’s why Lawrence is urging Democratic leaders to “make examples of public officials who created chaos and brought America to the brink, all so Trump could stay president for life, or until he got bored. They aren’t fit to lead or serve in any capacity.”

Not only that but these Republicans should also be arrested and prosecuted for their crimes against the nation. We cannot afford to let what happened on January 6th happen again. Allowing complicit members of Congress to go unpunished sends a terrible message and will absolutely result in future insurrection attempts, any of which could succeed and bring about bloodshed and death. If Democrats are serious about protecting the American people and our democracy, not to mention their own lives, the time for severe measures is now.

Featured Image: Screenshot