This Will Not Pass

New Book Claims to Reveal How GOP Leaders Really Felt About Trump Following Jan 6

In the immediate aftermath of the deadly Capitol insurrection last year, congressional GOP leaders reportedly did not mince words when they privately vented about then-President Trump’s central role in stoking the riot.

A new book by New York Times reporters titled “This Will Not Pass,” excerpts of which were published today in the Times, details House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy’s (R-CA) and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s (R-KY) expressions of outrage about Trump during private conversations with their associates days after the insurrection.

McCarthy’s outrage reportedly extended to claiming he would push Trump to resign immediately — a plan that McCarthy never followed through with.

With stunning, in-the-room detail, New York Times reporters Jonathan Martin and Alexander Burns show how both our political parties confronted a series of national traumas, including the coronavirus pandemic, the January 6 attack on the Capitol, and the political brinksmanship of President Biden’s first year in the White House.

From Donald Trump’s assault on the 2020 election and his ongoing campaign of vengeance against his fellow Republicans, to the behind-the-scenes story of Biden’s selection of Kamala Harris as his running mate and his bitter struggles to unite the Democratic Party, this book exposes the degree to which the two-party system has been strained to the point of disintegration. More than at any time in recent history, the long-established traditions and institutions of American politics are under siege as a set of aging political leaders struggle to hold together a changing country.