Conservative Washington Post columnist George Will made his return to ABC’s This Week on Sunday and it turned out to be a mixed bag. Aside from accurately noting that Israel had no one rational to work with on the other side since every leader in Gaza was a genocidal maniac, Will suggested that the January 6 Capitol Riot was an equal “shock to the system” as 9/11, a coordinated terror attack that killed 3,000 people.
Host George Stephanopoulos kicked off the panel discussion with Will and by focusing on the Republican opposition to a commission to investigate the riot. “We just heard Speaker Pelosi and Leader McConnell right there, we heard Susan Collins say she's still optimistic for something going forward on this January 6 commission. It's kind of hard to believe it's even controversial,” Stephanopoulos scoffed.
“Well, it's controversial for one reason,” Will declared. According to him, it’s because GOP lawmakers despised their voters. “Every elected official is frightened of his voters, therefore doesn't respect his voters, and doesn't like his voters and is afraid that a vote for this will be seen as an insult to the 45th president.”
“That's the Republican Party right now,” he said.
Will did admit that Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) “has a point” in that there were already a lot of investigations going on surrounding the riots:
There are going to lots of investigations. Journalists are going to go through this. There are 450-some criminal charges now being brought with a hundred more probably to come, so there are lots of information about this.
But he did add that he wanted what happened on January 6 to be “burned into the American mind as firmly as 9/11 because it was that scale of shock to the system.” And that’s why he was convinced there would be a commission. And he seemed to look forward to House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) getting “subpoenaed by a commission that has subpoena power.”
When the conversation shifted to talking about the latest conflict between Israel and Hamas, he noted that a two-state solution was “inconceivable and probably has been for a while,” because “Israel still has no interlocker who is not genocidal, that is doesn't want to destroy Israel.”
“And to want to destroy Israel is to want to destroy Jews because they’re Jews,” he firmly laid out the fact. “That’s right,” Stephanopoulos seemed to agree from off-camera and quietly to himself.
He also took the State Department to task for making hallow and silly statements about conflict as if they were being profound:
Someone on the State Department trying to say something anodyne said something just foolish, saying, “There’s no excuse for violence.” Yes, there is, when people are shooting rockets at you. They said this violence accomplishes nothing. Well, it destroyed 60 miles of tunnels that were used to attack Israel, and if it forces them to dig them again, this will happen again.
“This was the fourth Gaza War. Does anybody here want to bet their net worth that there won't be a fifth? Of course, there will,” he shot at the rest of the panel. “There’s no solution here. We shouldn’t pretend there is.”
The transcript is below, click "expand" to read:
ABC’s This Week
May 23, 2021
9:23:14 a.m. EasternGEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: And I want to welcome back two of our veteran roundtablers George Will, and Donna Brazile. Welcome back to both of you. And George, let me began with you. We just heard Speaker Pelosi and Leader McConnell right there, we heard Susan Collins say she's still optimistic for something going forward on this January 6 commission. It's kind of hard to believe it's even controversial.
GEORGE WILL: Well, it's controversial for one reason. We have something new in American history. That is a political party defined by the terror it feels for its own voters. That's the Republican Party right now. Every elected official is frightened of his voters, therefore doesn't respect his voters and doesn't like his voters and is afraid that a vote for this will be seen as an insult to the 45th president.
There's no reason -- I mean, McConnell has a point. There are going to lots of investigations. Journalists are going to go through this. There are 450-some criminal charges now being brought with a hundred more probably to come, so there are lots of information about this.
I would like to see January 6 is burned into the American mind as firmly as 9/11 because it was that scale of shock to the system. And I think there will be a commission, but it is controversial for that reason.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Your Republican Party.
(…)
9:27:42 a.m. Eastern
WILL: I sent my staff home from my Georgetown office out of fear of disorder, but there's an interesting conflict of interest here.
Kevin McCarthy, the leader of the House Republicans will be subpoenaed by a commission that has subpoena power, and he will be asked about his conversations with the president, and I don't think at that point -- during the riot, and I don't think at that point executive privilege will wash.
STEPHANOPOULOS: He said he will testify.
WILL: Yes.
(…)
9:33:07 a.m. Eastern
STEPHANOPOULOS: I suppose that's in our interest, but George, have these opportunities evaporated? Is a two-state solution really conceivable anymore?
WILL: I think it's inconceivable and probably has been for a while. But Israel still has no interlocker who is not genocidal, that is doesn't want to destroy Israel. And to want to destroy Israel is to want to destroy Jews because they’re Jews.
STEPHANOPOULOS: That’s right.
WILL: Someone on the State Department trying to say something anodyne said something just foolish, saying, “There’s no excuse for violence.” Yes, there is, when people are shooting rockets at you. They said this violence accomplishes nothing. Well, it destroyed 60 miles of tunnels that were used to attack Israel, and if it forces them to dig them again, this will happen again.
This was the fourth Gaza War. Does anybody here want to bet their net worth that there won't be a fifth? Of course, there will. It’s the mark of a mature mind of an individual or a nation that it can distinguish between a problem and a mess. A problem like in a problem with geometry, a problem of unemployment implies a solution. There’s no solution here. We shouldn’t pretend there is.
(…)
