Kudos to Liz Cheney for being on the right side of history. She knew full well of Donald Trump’s plans to overthrow the election, a plan which was repeated to her and which was said to be one that “would drive a stake into the heart of the federal republic.” Those of us who didn’t get the information first hand nevertheless got Trump’s telegraphed messages over the months and knew he wouldn’t concede and go quietly.
Trump banked on his beloved poorly educated followers not to know how the election system works and to swallow whatever hooey he spewed their direction about it. They did believe him. A lot of them are cooling their heels in jail now awaiting trial, even as Trump goes out on the speaking circuit and vows how he will pardon their treasonous acts.
Cheney took pen in hand and wrote a a scorching editorial in the Wall Street Journal.
She explains how Article II and the 12th Amendment govern how the nation selects the president. She states, “When courts have resolved any election challenges, and the election result has been certified by the governor of a state, the election is over. That is the rule of law.” Yes, it is. But the rule of law is what Trump uses as toilet paper and then dries his hands on the constitution.
Republicans used to advocate fidelity to the rule of law and the plain text of the Constitution. In 2020, Mr. Trump convinced many to abandon those principles. He falsely claimed that the election was stolen from him because of widespread fraud. While some degree of fraud occurs in every election, there was no evidence of fraud on a scale that could have changed this one. As the Select Committee will demonstrate in hearings later this year, no foreign power corrupted America’s voting machines, and no massive secret fraud changed the election outcome.
Almost all members of Congress know this—although many lack the courage to say it out loud. Mr. Trump knew it too, from his own campaign officials, from his own appointees at the Justice Department, and from the dozens of lawsuits he lost. Yet, Mr. Trump ignored the rulings of the courts and launched a massive campaign to mislead the public. Our hearings will show that these falsehoods provoked the violence on Jan. 6. Mr. Trump’s lawyers have begun to pay the price for spreading these lies. For example Rudy Giuliani’s license to practice law has been suspended because he “communicated demonstrably false and misleading statements to courts, lawmakers and the public at large in his capacity as lawyer for former President Donald J. Trump, ” in the words of a New York appellate court.
The Jan. 6 investigation isn’t only about the inexcusable violence of that day: It is also about fidelity to the Constitution and the rule of law, and whether elected representatives believe in those things or not. One member of the House Freedom Caucus warned the White House in the days before Jan. 6 that the president’s plans would drive “a stake in the heart of the federal republic.” That was exactly right.
It would be nice to think that we still live in a world where sanity prevails, where the likes of Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell go off with Mike Lindell to nice quiet padded cells where they belong. Perhaps we shall yet live to see that day. One thing is certain: Liz Cheney is the voice of the minority, crying out in the wilderness.
It’s a sad commentary on the Republican party and on America in general that that is the case, on these facts. But that’s how it is. Even Cheney’s own opponent in the GOP primary for the sole House seat from Wyoming, Harriet Hageman, has gone on record saying that “in the real world nobody cares what happened on January 6.” That that statement could even be made by somebody running for public office is all the commentary you need to hear. Are we a nation of dummies who will lose our government because we’re too stupid to know we’re losing it, or are enough of us awake to save our own bacon?
From your lips Liz to g_d’s ears.
When I was in school, u were expected to learn things & show u were in possession of that information. Teachers had paddles & u were expected to comply with the rules of the classroom. No one cared or tried to cowtow to any kid’s feelings or if new knowledge slapped down cherished beliefs. At Carolina, not one professor cowered because they were afraid of their students. Either u did the work or you failed. Period. No excuses. In the military there was no question whether u would comply. If u found urself in battle there was no room for disobeying orders as u may get urself killed or ur buddy killed. Nixon may have fucked us with his war on drugs, which was completely done for political reasons & ignored the facts so he could arrest black folks asking for fairness, & those of us against the Vietnam War, but he accepted his fate & left office once the truth was exposed. Now we live in a post truth era due to Reagan gutting the public school systems funding & the rise of social media & TV promoting shallowness & selfishness. Any damn fool with some resources now can lie about anything & become an ‘expert’ & can even be goddamn president. Until the American public holds these powerful people responsible for their lies, we are doomed. Yes, doomed. When they can lie over & over & vote for the upper 5% for the past half century, & we accept it, we are doomed. Covid has killed a million of us yet the man responsible sits in a golf club free as a bird. Neither viruses nor the planetary systems that keep us alive care one iota whether we smarten up. No assholes, no ‘god’ will show up to save us. Millions of murdered people over our history should put that fantasy to bed. This is not hyperbole. Methane is bubbling up faster everyday. When I backpacked into the back country in the rockies, I had to plan for every contingency. Anyone who had no respect for the dangers had NO CHANCE of going as they would get us both killed. The proverbial house is on fire. Either we get off our collective arses to save our children’s future or our children will have no future worth having. Fact. I don’t trust luck. I’ve lost too many times playing the lottery.
Well said. Sadly, readers of the Wall Street Journal are rare in Trump world, you can lead a horse to water, can’t force it to drink.
However helpful Liz Cheney has been in the last couple of years, she deserves no praise or kudos. Being a monster more civilized than the one currently snapping its jaws is far too low a bar. When this is over and she is the victor, she will use that praise to start this ugly cycle again. Take heart, Boomers, in that most of you will be dead by that point. I, on the other hand, shall still be here, dealing with what new monsters this modern-day Lilitu will breed. And some will be foolish enough to wax nostalgic for Trump’s goons.
She appears to be a paradox. We need her to possibly undo trump’s stupid gang, yet I agree she could be a smarter, more indestructible version. Given all the horrors she has supported, it’s hard to fathom how she would abandon the things she has supported. I hope some democratic strategist is looking at the possible scenarios. What if neither Biden or Trump is on the ticket? Harris vs Cheney? I dunno if that would fly, especially after taking down Trump. I’m afraid she’d rally the moderate gop & suck up the conservative democrats. She may become a national hero if she pulls this off. That would be a low bar, as u say.
She’s neither smarter nor indestructible necessarily, merely attuned with the current zeitgeist enough to realize how broken her party is. Nor do I see anything paradoxical about her. In Dungeons And Dragons terms, she is Lawful Evil on the moral level, wishing to do heinous things but with the veneer of order and legality as cover. The Trump cult is the exact opposite of that, which is why it is so destructive…especially to themselves AND Cheney’s agenda.
The enemy of your enemy isn’t necessarily for friend – but they can be a good temporary ally.
Yes, very much is she an ally at present. But too many people are getting it twisted with all anti-Trumpers. Remember what these people actually believe in. Remember that they will be fighting our side again when Trump’s hash is settled.
Just exactly how many of these Republican jerks knew about the coup? The entire party seems to be a bunch of insurrectionists and should be barred from public office of any kind.
U must mean IF there were real laws that promoted the common good? No 24/7 propaganda anywhere that pretended to be news that was getting people killed & placing all of us at risk? U mean not letting a criminal Nixon place cannabis in schedule 1 when it meets no criteria for harm, & erlichman admitting nixon did it knowing that, but wanted antiwar protesters & black activists in jail. This egregious law has made millions, guilty of harming no one, into criminals, while Nixon walked. Meanwhile the stockholders of the alcohol, tobbaco, & pharmaceutical industries have gotten rich putting millions into the ground. I see what u mean. The list is endless. We don’t need to waste time on the mob boss allowed to piss on the law thousands of times.
This is why the republiCLQWNs must never be allowed near the nuclear weapons again.