Never Again

Never Again

We must defend Democracy

 

The U.S. House Select Committee investigating the insurrection on January 6^th presented compelling evidence on Thursday night showing clearly that Donald Trump violated his oath of office to protect and defend the Constitution when he refused to do anything to stop the violent insurrection at the Capitol for over three hours. 

 

Trump summoned the mob to Washington D.C on January 6^th and sent them to the Capitol to “fight like hell” to stop Congress from certifying the election he lost. During the uprising, Trump watched the violence perpetrated by his supporters on Fox News from the comfort of the private dining room next to the Oval Office. 

 

As soon as the mob breached the Capitol security perimeter, close advisors, members of his own family, and senior White House officials all told him he needed to go on television to condemn the violence and tell his supporters at the Capitol to stand down and go home. He refused and fueled the fire further by tweeting how his own Vice President was a coward for not stopping Congress from certifying the election results. He only made calls to his allies in the Senate and Rudi Giuliani, his election conspiracy lawyer. His final statement on January 6^th told the insurrectionists they were good people and he loved them. That statement only came when law enforcement reinforcements were being dispatched to quell the violence after orders from Vice President Pence. Even after the violence was over and the rioters had gone away, he could not bring himself to condemn what they had done or admit the election was lost. 

 

The nation heard evidence that Trump had every opportunity to stop the carnage and chose to do nothing, hoping his supporters would be successful in stopping Congress from certifying the results of the election. Not only did he choose to say nothing to his supporters, he also chose not to call in any help for the besieged Capitol police officers who were trying to protect the Capitol and members of Congress who were there fulfilling their constitutional duties. 

 

The first duty of every President is to defend the Constitution and the branches of our government that document created.  His oath required him to defend the processes for the peaceful and orderly transfer of power after the elections created in the Constitution. Trump’s choice to do nothing to stop the violence violated his oath and those duties. 

 

The hearings into the events of January 6^th have revealed many loyal Republicans who worked for Trump for years who believe what he did and did not do on January 6 and 7 crossed the line and threatened the very foundations of our democracy. Those who have testified before the committee have demonstrated that the tribalism of the cult of Trump does have its limits. There are places where even those Trump loyalists refuse to go. 

 

Thursday’s witnesses, a deputy press secretary and a senior deputy national security advisor, put country over party when it comes to a violent attempt to prevent the orderly transfer of power from the losing administration to the winning one. They agreed that the “Big Lie” had no validity and that it was wrong to keep insisting the election had been stolen.  These brave citizens risked the opprobrium of their peers by standing up for the principles of the founding fathers and speaking truth to power. 

 

They join other Republican White House staffers who have come forward to testify about the events and actions of the former president that imperiled our democracy. Not only are they to be commended for their courage but they will be remembered for doing the right thing when their country called for the truth. They demonstrated that you can be a conservative Republican, tell the truth and stand up for our democracy without buying into the conspiracy theories and cult of personality all too prevalent in today’s GOP. 

 

GOP Rep. Liz Cheney chaired Thursday’s hearing. Her closing remarks are a clarion call for other conservatives to abandon the cult of Trump and to put county over party. She laid bare the errors in the “Big Lie” and how we must make changes to our laws so that the events of January 6^th are never repeated. For those in her party who have ignored the hearings and think they are just political theatre, her words, and those of fellow Republican Rep. Adam Kinzinger, are a reminder that facts and truth matter, especially in the conduct of government officials. Those who ignore those warnings do so at their peril.