During a recent appearance at The AtlanticFestival, Republican strategist Karl Rove tore into the January 6th insurrectionists, saying they should be in jail for a long time.
Amazingly, just four years later, numerous Republicans, including Donald Trump, are treating the January 6th rioters as victims. That message doesn't seem to be bothering most of the GOP's electorate, but some Republicans aren't happy with the way the current GOP paints this segment of the party.
Karl Rove and David Axelrod were on a panel at the event and moderator Elaina Plott Calabro asked, "What does this say about where this country is at right now, culturally, politically, and what is it going to take for it to change?"
Axelrod answered in part, "We saw it on January 6. It was his words that precipitated an insurrection, violent insurrection at the Capitol. So you can’t sow the seeds of violence and then play the victim."
Rove then weighed in:
"I worked in that building so I feel very strongly. I was 20-years-old when I worked in the Capitol, and so I share a lot of David’s feelings about January 6. I want every one of those sons of bitches who attacked a policeman to be thrown in jail for a long time. But let’s be careful. I don’t remember the outrage-. I had a friend, he was playing baseball, and he ended up throwing himself on the body of one of his female colleagues in the bottom of a bunker as a madman attempted to kill people and Steve Scalise will carry those wounds the rest of his life. And I don’t remember the outrage."