Jan 30, 2024 4 min read

Liz Cheney book sounds a warning

By Oren Spiegler

I have finished reading the recently-released blockbuster best seller, “Oath and Honor”, by former U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney. The book is appropriately titled and I highly recommend it.

Cheney is a rare congressional Republican profile in courage – willing not only to lose her influential position in the party, but also to endanger her personal safety in order to do what was right: to uphold the oath that she and her colleagues have taken to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic. The domestic enemies that we currently face far outstrip what any foreign criminals could do to our country.

The book establishes that despite losing virtually every court case that was filed on his behalf in an effort to allege that the 2020 presidential election had been marred by fraud, and hearing over and over again from multiple advisers and family members that he had lost, Donald Trump refused to accept it. He orchestrated one dirty scheme after another, culminating in the assault on the Capitol and those who were within it on January 6, 2021.

His pressure campaign to get Vice President Mike Pence to attempt to install him as president despite the vote of the people was unrelenting, continuing even as the riot was taking place. Pence and his family, who were present with him in the Capitol that day, were understandably in fear for their lives and had to quickly flee as the attackers got within a few dozen feet of them. Amidst calls to “hang Mike Pence” and the erection of a gallows outside the Capitol, we must wonder what would have unfolded had the crazed crowd reached the Pence family.

After the members of Congress had been terrorized on that day, there was widespread bipartisan agreement in Congress that what had taken place was horrific, that Trump was responsible for instigating and perpetuating it, and that he must be punished for what he had done: at the very least through censure, or better yet, impeachment, so that someone who was so disloyal to their country would be barred from ever serving in office again. Future House Speaker Kevin McCarthy said that he was finished with Trump, and indicated that the riot heralded the end of Trump’s time as president.

The bipartisan anger and desire to place blame where it belonged then began to dissipate in the Republican caucus, particularly after McCarthy made a groveling visit to Mar-a-Lago which served to rejuvenate the man who inspired the attack.

Despite losing the support of most of the newly weak-kneed Republican House Caucus, Cheney continued on the right path, accepting the invitation of then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to join the committee which was being assembled to investigate the riot. Joined by only one other Republican, then-Rep. Adam Kinzinger of Illinois, Cheney and her committee colleagues assembled a stunning amount of material, including live testimony and pre-recorded interviews with many individuals who at one time had been close to Donald Trump, including those who served in his administration.

Also presented was testimony from some of the Capitol police officers who were beaten and sprayed with poison as they attempted to hold off the raging crowd. Twenty million Americans watched the first of many presentations from the select committee and many were impressed with how persuasive and compelling what they had seen was.

The epilogue in the book sounds a warning as it acknowledges that Trump is the leading candidate for the 2024 presidential nomination in his party. It warns of the danger that such a man could inflict on a country whose foundation is the law and the Constitution, how he would act to steadily erode and ultimately destroy our system of governance within an administration that he has told us would be focused on retribution and persecuting political opponents by installing a kangaroo Justice Department to charge them with crimes.

I have to hope and believe that despite the Trump fervor which currently rages in Washington County, the better nature of the electorate will be on display as the 2024 election looms, that Pennsylvania and the nation will vote in the manner which preserves what so many have fought for throughout our history,

Oren Spiegler is a Peters Township resident.