This kind of ritual purification is bad politics. Republicans should be talking about President Biden’s $5 trillion spending plan, 7% inflation, and the Americans who are still trying to flee Afghanistan. Now the media is crowing because the RNC says Ms. Cheney and Mr. Kinzinger’s role in investigating Jan. 6 amounts to “persecution of ordinary citizens engaged in legitimate political discourse.”

Republicans don’t have to agree with everything—or anything—that the House Jan. 6 committee is doing, and we think it was a mistake for Speaker Nancy Pelosi to reject the appointees offered by GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy. But Republicans should not get within 10 miles of defending the Capitol riot. What is to be gained by the RNC’s indulgence of President Trump’s vendettas?

Mr. Kinzinger is bowing out of Congress by not seeking reelection. Republicans can think that Ms. Cheney is over the top in her focus on Jan. 6. But she also has a conservative record in Congress, and anyway her political fate will be decided by the people of Wyoming within months. She’s either on her way out the door, or she’ll win Wyoming’s backing.