Karl Rove Slammed GOP ‘Apologists’ in a Viral Jan. 6 Op-Ed, So Naturally Fox News Didn’t Ask Him About It

Fox News contributor Karl Rove authored a blistering op-ed in the Wall Street Journal on the one-year anniversary of the Jan. 6 Capitol riot. The former adviser to George W. Bush took particular aim at Republican “apologists” who have downplayed the riot.

“I’m addressing squarely those Republicans who for a year have excused the actions of the rioters who stormed the Capitol, disrupted Congress as it received the Electoral College’s results, and violently attempted to overturn the election,” he wrote, at one point asking, “What if the other side had done it?”

He concluded by stating, “There can be no soft-pedaling what happened and no absolution for those who planned, encouraged and aided the attempt to overthrow our democracy. Love of country demands nothing less. That’s true patriotism.”

Later in the day Rove appeared on Fox News Primetime, where he spoke about prison inmates receiving stimulus checks and the Republican Party’s future electoral prospects. However, neither he, nor guest host Lawrence Jones raised the subject of the op-ed. Moreover, neither man brought up Jan. 6 at all during the segment.

Rove’s piece in the Journal is notable in that it is one of the strongest Republican condemnations of not just the riot, but the attempts to minimize its importance. That would include some Fox News personalities, who have sought to downplay the riot as something other than an effort to overthrow American democracy. Additionally, many in right-wing media more broadly have downplayed and even outright denied that Donald Trump incited the mob that day.

Watch above via Fox News.

This is an opinion piece. The views expressed in this article are those of just the author.

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