‘Trump Ushered It In’: S.E. Cupp Spots a Culprit Behind Republicans’ Grade School Nonsense on Tuesday

Congressional Republicans had quite a Tuesday as a spate of wild scenes unfolded at the Capitol. While the incidents shocked many in the press, CNN political commentator S.E. Cupp said people should not be surprised.

Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) allegedly elbowed Rep. Tim Burchett (R-TN) in the kidney, a month after Burchett voted to remove McCarthy as speaker. The former speaker denied hitting his Republican colleague.

Meanwhile, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) slammed Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) for voting to kill her motion to impeach the secretary of Homeland Security. She quote-tweeted a tweet about Issa, doing so with a one-second clip of former President Donald Trump saying, “She said he’s a pussy” in an unrelated context in which he was mocking Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) at a rally in 2016.

Also, Rep. James Comer (R-KY) told Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-FL) in a committee hearing, “You look like a Smurf.”

Lastly, a long-running feud between Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-OK) and Teamsters President Sean O’Brien erupted when Mullin challenged O’Brien to a fight in the middle of a hearing.

Host Abby Phillip recalled the incidents and asked for Cupp’s reaction.

She began by citing Tuesday’s testimony from David DePape, who is on trial in federal court for hitting Paul Pelosi in the head with a hammer. DePape said he broke into the home hoping to find then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi instead.

“[L]et me juxtapose this with something else that happened today in a courtroom in San Francisco, where David DePape talked about being radicalized watching far-right YouTube videos that led him to conspiracy theories, and led him to go to Nancy Pelosi’s house looking to attack her and said he ended up attacking Paul Pelosi.”

Cupp then said that such violent inclinations on the right did not happen suddenly:

But the culture of vengeance and punishment did not come overnight. It came because Trump ushered it in. And listen, politicians before Trump, as you just said, were not always nice. They’re not always angels. In fact, you know, there were times where there was actual violence in the Capitol. But Trump came in and decided that vengeance and punishment was much more important than governing. Republicans bought into that completely and have decided that being identified but your enemies is much more important than by your friends. Again, punishment more important than governing.

All of the stuff has been happening for years to get us to a place for a senator feels like it’s ok to challenge a witness to an actual fight during a hearing. Or a former speaker of the House thinks it’s ok to elbow or assault someone that he disagrees with. That doesn’t happen overnight.

On Saturday, Trump posted on TruthSocial that, if elected again, “We will root out the Communists, Marxists, Fascists and the Radical Left Thugs that live like vermin within the confines of our Country.”

Quite famously, Trump was responsible for the first non-peaceful transfer of power after he insisted the 2020 election had been stolen from him, predictably whipping his supporters into a frenzy. As the Capitol was under siege on Jan. 6, Trump watched the violence on television while ignoring calls for help.

Watch above via CNN.