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While sober observers of news and politics take time to contemplate the new J6 video released by Tucker Carlson and what it means to the media-constructed narrative of that day’s events, Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell instead chose, yet again, to side with Democrats and condemned the release of the new footage:

“With regard to the presentation on Fox News last night, I want to associate myself entirely with the opinion of the chief of the Capitol police about what happened on January 6.”

McConnell offered his hot take at his regular Tuesday afternoon media scrum in the halls of the Capitol. The opinion McConnell is “associating” himself with is that of U.S. Capitol Police Chief Thomas Manger, who wrote a scathing letter to his officers decrying what he deemed “offensive and misleading conclusions” made by Carlson. Manger continued, “The program conveniently cherry-picked from the calmer moments of our 41,000 hours of video. The commentary fails to provide context about the chaos and violence that happened before or during these less tense moments.”

The same argument, of course, could be made about the scant and selectively-edited video that had thus far been made available to the public. Manger is a willing participant in the narrative built these last two years by Democrats, Trump-hating RINOs (paging Liz Cheney!), and their dupes in the mainstream media; it’s quid pro quo at its finest. Those serious about uncovering what really happened that day would welcome the additional context provided by the new video and ask questions about possible erroneous conclusions that have been drawn about January 6.

By associating himself with Manger, McConnell paints himself as being supremely uninterested in the truth. He rather gallingly concluded, “It was a mistake in my view for Fox News to depict this in a way that is completely at variance with what our chief law enforcement official here at Capitol thinks.”

Mitch, please. What if the truth is hiding somewhere in that “variance?” McConnell’s lack of curiosity about the truth could be the sign of an old man who’s spent far too much time in DC; Nikki Haley’s proposal of a competency test for our aged, out-of-touch career politicians sounds better by the day. But, McConnell rarely makes moves like this without his own political expediency being top of mind. Perhaps he’s afraid his own (possible) role in failing to secure the Capitol that day will come to light if additional details emerge? Deflection and projection are tools of the left that McConnell seems to have co-opted with aplomb.

There’s also some not-so-subtle, intra-party political subtext here: House Speaker Kevin McCarthy provided Tucker Carlson with the new footage. Fault lines began showing after the GOP’s lackluster showing in the midterm elections last year. McCarthy, in order to secure the votes necessary to become speaker of the House, had to make serious concessions to the right flank of his party; McConnell fell short of becoming majority leader in the Senate, so he had the freedom to continue to be the same old Mitch McConnell we’ve seen for years. The new J6 footage, to a certain extent, pits McCarthy against McConnell in a battle royale for Republican supremacy, with McCarthy, improbably, representing the side of truth and justice. Sadly, McConnell doesn’t seem to know that he forfeited that fight years ago.

Mitch McConnell is up for reelection in 2026.

In new ltr from Chief Manger to the Capitol Police Dept, Manger calls Tucker Carlson's segments on Jan 6th last night "filled w/ offensive and misleading conclusions about the January 6th attack.”

Manger: "This Dept stands by the officers in the video that was shown last night.” pic.twitter.com/mozNBkKXId

— Frank Thorp V (@frankthorp) March 7, 2023