If Republican leaders are actually interested in "unity" rather than using its rhetoric to avoid accountability, here's something they could do. It doesn't involve much in the way of consequences, but it does feature truth-telling, apologies and requests for reconciliation.

To be clear, I don't think any of this would actually happen, but it would be nice (if insufficient) if it did.

Ronna McDaniel, Mitch McConnell, Kevin McCarthy, Ted Cruz, and Josh Hawley could issue a joint statement and do a press conference in which they acknowledged that Joe Biden is president-elect and that he won a free and fair election by a sizable margin.

They could say that there is no evidence of meaningful election fraud and that judges, including ones appointed by Trump, have rejected much of what the president and his allies have been complaining about.

They could apologize for misleading their supporters over the past months and say that they understand why Democrats may think their claims fueled last week's violence and are horrified if that is the case.

They could denounce Trump's behavior on Wednesday as inappropriate and inflammatory and pledge support for a full investigation into what happened.

They could acknowledge that Democrats are being reasonable in seeking Trump's removal, even as they believe that it isn't a good idea because it risks more violence from his supporters.

They could pledge to turn down the temperature in their rhetoric, admitting that the GOP's election messaging has too often stressed that Democratic victories would lead to physical danger for its voters and the destruction of the republic.

They could ask for forgiveness from their colleagues for putting their lives in danger, their supporters for lying to them, and the country for having failed to be honest in the first place.

Again, I don't think any of this will happen, but it would be a tangible effort by Republican leaders to promote unity. Right now, we're getting a lot of this: https://twitter.com/MattGertz/status/1348340141224587270