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If you're still a Trump supporter after the myriad of facts presented in the Jan. 6 Committee hearing, can we talk? Specifically, what's wrong with you? Either you're unable to process the overwhelming evidence that Trump tried to steal the election or you don't support democracy. Neither are good.
There's much more evidence to come. Watch and listen with an open mind if you still can. Or continue to live in your echo chamber with your Fox News propagandists, a channel too fearful of being discredited to even air the hearing.
Trump's Attorney General Bill Barr, the highest law officer in the land, told Trump that his claims of an election heist were complete “b-------.” Still, Trump repeated the Big Lie and had a chorus of Republican politicians like North Dakota's Three … uh, Amigos taking part in “Stop the Steal” rallies even though they knew better. It was just easier to go along. Real profiles in courage. That's different from b-------. That stuff comes out of the back end of poultry. Even Ivanka Trump believed Barr over her father.
One Republican, Liz Cheney, has shown true allegiance to the country over party. She said in the opening hearing last week, “I say this to my Republican colleagues who are defending the indefensible: There will come a day when Donald Trump is gone but your dishonor will remain.”
That's exactly where I am. I'll never vote for a Republican who stood behind Trump's coup attempt — and, yes, I have voted Republican before. I won't forget and neither will history. John Hoeven, Kevin Cramer and Kelly Armstrong could have shown 1% of Liz Cheney's guts and stood up for the Constitution. Instead, they weaseled, more concerned with protecting their jobs than democracy. Liz Cheney will almost surely lose her U.S. House seat, but she'll be able to sleep at night.
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Deflections continue. It's just politics, some claim. Or it was just a “dustup,” as Washington Commanders Defensive Coordinator Jack Del Rio said. Repeating one of the lame bullet points, Del Rio tried comparing Black Lives Matters marches to “the dustup.” No, marchers took to the streets to protest police violence against Black Americans. They were fighting for democratic ideals. Benedict J. Trump was willing to destroy the republic in order to retain power in an election he lost by a 306-230 electoral margin and 7 million total votes.
Even as chants of “Hang Mike Pence” reverberated at the U.S. Capitol, the vice president, a Trump loyalist like Barr, stood up for the American people when it counted. “My oath to support and defend the Constitution constrains me from claiming unilateral authority to determine which electoral votes should be counted and which should not,” he said, adding that giving any vice presidential unilateral authority to decide presidential contests would upend a system of check and balances between branches of the government. “The presidency belongs to the American people, and to them alone.”
Benedict J. Trump tried to steal that presidency. It's a fact. The 59th presidential election in American history could have been the last. It's unjustifiable. It's unforgivable. It's un-American, and if you continue to support that traitor, so are you.
Tony Bender writes an exclusive weekly column for Forum News Service. This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of this publication, nor Forum Communications ownership.
