The lasers and things brought up about her. Ou he has said qanon before, he knows what it is. Through it all, the Qanon Congresswoman from georgia has remained publicly defiant. Greene has been using this opportunity to fundraise. Quote, we owe them no apologies, we will never back down. In an interview with the washington examiner, she said this about democrats. How stupid they are, they dont even realize theyre helping me. Im pretty amazed at how dumb they are. While this was unfolding in the house, democrats and republicans over in the senate have settled on a power sharing agreement. This means democrats officially get to take over the committeesk and can now push forward with the president s agenda. The senate is also six days away from the start of that second Impeachment Trial for the now former president. S axios has new reporting on the effort to make the case to convict the former president. Quote, during a call wednesday n morning with the house wi democratic caucus, lead impeachment manager representative jamie raskin told his colleagues one Capitol Police officer has lost three fingers, another is likely to lose an eye. He said Extremist Elements in russia and germany view the no storming of our capitol as a great victory for 21st century fascism. O one of trumps lawyers, bruce castor, hired days ago, offered a preview of his defense in philadelphia. The president deplores the violence at the capitol. And those people should be punished. Just because somebody gave a speech and people got excited, that doesnt mean that the speech makers fault. Its the people who got excited and did what they know is wrong. President biden also weighed in on trumps impeachment today with some of his most detailed comments on the subject yet in a recorded interview with people magazine. He was impeached by the house, and it has to move forward. Otherwise it would come off as farcical. What this was all about. Its probably not likely they can get 17 republicans to change their view and convict on ba impeachment. But i think its important that there be certain basic standards that people at least are able to see what happened and make their own judgments. Pl by the way, if biden is going to get that nearly 2 trillion Coronavirus Relief package he wants, it looks like it will be just democrats and no crossover republican votes. Stimulus checks but he is firm on keeping them at amount of 1,400 apiece. Tonight, the number of confirmed coronavirus cases in our country has topped 26 million. Look at the death toll. Over 451,000 of our fellow citizens. Some hope tonight. A new Oxford University study found the astrazeneca vaccine not spreading the virus. Well have more on that later in the broadcast. But with that, lets bring in our leadoff guests on this wednesday night. We welcome two new faces to our broadcast. Wade epstein, political reporter with New York City and anna palmer, veteran founder c. E. O. Of punch bowl news. Well get to that name in a bit, a new d. C. Name she created with jake sherman. And back with us tonight, Eugene Robinson, Pulitzer Prize winning columnist for the Washington Post. Good evening and welcome to you all. Id like to begin with you. What just happened . Your organization reported that members of the Republican Caucus gave the Qanon Congresswoman a Standing Ovation at the close of her remarks. You saw mccarthy come out and pretend to mispronounce and not know what qanon is. The flags on the capitol lawn outside his office during the insurrection, notwithstanding. So in your view, what just happened . Were seeing the fight for the soul of the Republican Party play out in realtime in the house. Basically you had Kevin Mccarthy, the leader House Republicans, try to thread the needle and have it both ways. Not only did he not denounce Marjorie Taylor greene and her Conspiracy Theories and racist things she said, but he also supported representative cheney who was facing almost sure, you know, voting out of leadership. If he hadnt really riled the base behind her, he was able to kind of look at the political field. He wants to be the next speaker of the house. This is all about that. And hes trying to play on both sides. But it is not going to be finished. Trump donald trump has a hold on the republican conference and were seeing that play out in realtime. Reid, is this the gop now to the point anna raises im not being cute. I wish i was. How do you run in the educated suburbs if youre the gop . The suburbs, lets name three cities. Atlanta, st. Louis, denver. On the notion of celebrities drinking the blood of toddlers and jewish space lasers, how do you do that . You know, the problem that Kevin Mccarthy and republicans have at large is, is that Marjorie Taylor greene represents a not significant portion of their electorate at this point, of their base voters. Its clear that they cant win in most states. They certainly cant win National Elections without that group of voters. And they, as we just saw in november, cant win a National Election with those voters presenting sort of a large segment of their base. So what were going to see over the next 20 months or so is republicans trying to figure out how to keep both ends of this coalition of theirs together without alienating the sort of voters in the middle who tend to win elections in Swing Districts and statewide races. Eugene, in your latest, you argue persuasively that the gop is one more big defeat away from burning it down and having to rebuild. Though tonight through our prism, looked more like they were maybe considering changing the tires while the car is hurtling down the highway and kind of adlibbing their way to what the gop wants to be. Oh, thats certainly what they seem to want to try to do because they think theyre within reach of taking back one or both chambers of congress in 2022. So they dont want to make a definitive break with trumpism or even with qanon. I mean, lets be clear on what were talking about here, right. Theres a tendency to look at what happened tonight and say, okay, well, on the one hand they didnt punish Marjorie Taylor greene. On the other hand, they kept liz cheney in her leadership position. An even bigger stretch, republicans are trying to draw some sort of one hand, other Hand Equivalence between Marjorie Taylor greene and ilhan omar on the democratic side, antisemitic statements for which she later abjectly and humbly apologized. There is no equivalence for Marjorie Taylor greene. This is an unrepentant White Supremacist antisemitic Conspiracy Theory mongering person who really should be nowhere near the power of the United States government. She is the fringe of the fringe, and this party cannot cannot bring itself to draw a line between the fringe of the fringe and everything else. And it just shows where the Republican Party is right now. And i think it will take a huge, really walloping at the polls maybe in 22 or 24 or both to make the party actually start to rebuild. Anna, i want to play for you a bit of congressman andy biggs, republican of arizona tonight with mr. Hannity over on fox news. Democrats want to purge Taylor Greene from committees. Then this same standard must be applied to them. If youre going to take Marjorie Taylor greene off her committee, then you need to be looking at all the Conspiracy Theorists, all the hard left rhetoric thats come out. Thats why i cosponsored that amendment where we substitute ilhan omar for Marjorie Taylor greene because were trying to get one for one. In youre going to take out one of ours, were going to take out one of yours. Well, he just said the quiet part out loud. Pay no mind to the jewish space lasers or anything she has said. This is about a body count. This is about party. This is about if we lose one of ours, you lose one of yours. I think that that is the sentiment that a lot of republicans feel that they are trying to make, which is that democrats are doing an overreach. I think it does president play frankly. What democrats are trying to do, they are trying, to eugenes point, make the entire party answer for qanon, the Conspiracy Theories. They feel very confident going into 2022, which is going to be a tough Midterm Election for them typically in the house in particular. If it is the same party, theyll lose seats. They want to tie republicans to Taylor Greene the issue because they know they will win on it. And, reid, ive got something for you, too. This is an ad going after a member of congress who is a republican, an incumbent in nebraska, and this, i think, is a shade of whats to come. Qanon, a Conspiracy Theory born online took over the Republican Party. Sent followers to congress and moved donald trump, Incited A Mob to attack the capitol and murdered a cop. Congressman don bacon should have stood with us, but he was a coward. He stood with trump and the lies. So, reid, republican congressman don bacon, former general in the u. S. Air force, they are clearly softening the ground for a race two years from now. But getting it into the public consciousness, it is early yet. Ill give you that. Anyway this backfires . Well, i mean, what they are trying to do is essentially turn every republican into Marjorie Taylor greene. Thats what the vote of tomorrow is about, is about tying House Republicans to Marjorie Taylor greene on the vote. Theyll run ads saying that they voted to protect her and to keep her on committees. And it is about sort of building this narrative over the course of the next two years. This isnt the sort of ad that youd see from democrats heading into an election cycle, if you remember in october their ads were about health care and more on policy that moved their voters. This is much more of an ad to try to define House Republicans super early in the cycle and try to cleave them apart from what is a significant part of their base. So, eugene, congresswoman cheney, who is by the way, the atlarge member of congress in wyoming. The population is small enough. They have but one seat in the house for the entire state, two senators like every other state. Liz cheney survives to live another day. Over 60 members of her caucus voted in this Secret Ballot to bounce her from leadership, but she prevailed. Is there any anyway, gene, that this was a test vote tonight the way Senate Republicans view it . Do you think there is any room, any leeway, any votes to convict that are out there among the big red wall of Senate Republicans . Only if the trial ends with the Secret Ballot in the senate. You know, this was a Secret Ballot in the house and liz cheney got, what, 140something votes for and 61, i guess, against her. And so if the senate trial were to end in a Secret Ballot, i think you might get 17, you might get more than 17 republican senators who would vote to convict donald trump. But they wont do it publicly. Because, again, the partys idea of how to go forward, its not now to break with trump and trumpism. And even qanon. But to sort of play these and try to neaten up the edges, Kevin Mccarthy said, you should have heard what Marjorie Taylor greene told us in our meeting. Okay, lets hear it because thats not what shes saying on her twitter feed. Its not what shes saying publicly. Shes defiant and shes saying the democrats are helping me by putting pressure on me. So, you know, shes going to be a player. Shes going to help the democrats make the case that the Republican Party is Marjorie Taylor greenes party because this woman is not going to shut up. To our viewers, thats why eugene has a pulitzer. To anna, youre on. Youre going to get the last word here. The Question America is asking, where did the name punch bowl come for a News Organization . Punch bowl is the Secret Service nickname for the u. S. Capitol. We focus on power, people, politics, and bringing you inside the Capitol Building in a nonbiased, nonpartisan, just the facts day. We have a morning newsletter, afternoon and evening newsletter. You can sign up at punch bowl news. Com. That was me knowing the answer to the question. I would rather have a found er explain it to our audience. Well continue to read you and our Friend Epstein at the new york times, and our friend Eugene Robinson at the washington Washington Post and the three of you starting us off. Appreciate it. Coming up, todays good and not so good pandemic news. Trying to comprehend the constantly conflicting guidance about protecting yourself and increasingly in the light of foreign enemies on our soil. And later, hes seen a lot in his fourplus decades in journalism. We will ask outgoing Washington PostExecutive Editor marty barron about seeking the truth, getting it out there, and telling it clearly, especially now. All of it as The 11th Hour is just getting underway on this wednesday night. Y night. Do you have a Life Insurance policy you no longer need . Now you can sell your policy, even a term policy, for an immediate cash payment. Call Coventry Direct to learn more. We thought we had planned carefully for our retirement. But we quickly realized that we needed a way to supplement our income. 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