“This is the story of the moment when American democracy began to unravel. It is the story of the men and women who fought to save it, and of the enablers and collaborators whose actions ensured the threat would grown and metastasize. It is the story of the most dangerous man ever to inhabit the Oval Office, and of the many steps he took to subvert our Constitution.” (p. 3)
I don’t agree with Liz Cheney’s conservative politics, but I admire the steps she took against Donald Trump and the Republicans who remain loyal to him…which ended up costing Liz Cheney her seat in the House of Representatives. And made her the target of numerous death threats.
Taking a chronological approach, Cheney describes the shenanigans Trump and his minions were up to after the 2020 Election. The lies, the frauds, the misinformation grew and grew as Cheney and a few other Republican colleagues grew concerned with the toxic tactics of the White House. Rudy Giuliani, Sidney Powell, and Peter Navarro were espousing conspiracy theories on FOX NEWS claiming the Dominion voting machines were rigged (we all know how that turned out: a $700 million judgement against FOX NEWS).
Cheney documents Kevin McCathy’s double dealing. She also shows that Mike Johnson–who would become Speaker of the House–worked to get the House members to reject the results of the 2020 Election and not certify the results. What a weasel!
McCarthy and Devin Nunes–the ranking Republican on the House Intelligence Committee–joined Trump in defending the online platform PARLER because it was conservative. Here’s some of the hideous posts on PARLER:
“We need to act like our forefathers did Kill [Black and Jewish people] all Leave no victims or survivors” and “After the firing squads are done with the politicians the teachers are next.” (p. 169-170)
Cheney and others grew more worried with the approach of January 6th as Trump rallied his supporters. Some of the most harrowing chapters in Oath and Honor tell the story of what happened on January 6th as the crowd chanted “Hang Pence!” and trashed the Capitol. Cheney calls out the political hacks who supported the invasion: Josh Hawley and Jim Jordan.
Cheney was only one of the 10 Republicans who voted to impeach Donald Trump. And, of course, that triggered Cheney’s removal from the Number 3 position in House leadership. Cheney’s participation on the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol sealed her political fate in the GOP.
Liz Cheney pulls no punches in her tale of the Trump attempt to overturn the Election and the aftermath of January 6th. If you really want to know what was going on–and it’s shameful!–I highly recommend Oath and Honor. GRADE: A
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
Prologue — 3
Part I: The plot against America: Election Day 2020 to January 5, 2021
The only thing that matters is winning — 9
Put up or shut up — 18
Someone is going to get killed — 27
The blood of patriots & tyrants — 37
The oath — 48
The secretaries of defense — 53
Just humor him — 58
More sinister than I was prepared for — 63
Fake electors — 67
Powder keg — 73
Part II: The attack: January 6, 2021
The oath does not bend or yield to popular sentiment — 81
This is because of you! — 88
It turned out Kevin was lying — 98
These are the things that happen — 108
He was going to let the travesty go on — 112
Part III: A plague of cowardice: January 7 to June 30, 2021
Impeachment and 25th Amendment are real — 117
A vote of conscience — 125
Impeachment — 133
Trump lied. People died — 144
Trump’s not eating — 147
RemoveLiz.com — 150
They stared down at their desks — 159
This isn’t their party anymore — 164
But what if he is our only hope? — 167
That we love our country more — 175
The inescapable force of freedom — 181
A personal favor — 184
The power of propaganda — 186
Select committee — 193
Part IV: No half measures: Summer 2021 to Spring 2022
A different world — 197
McCarthy withdraws his nominees — 205
I was electrocuted again and again and again — 214
Hideaway — 220
Winning in court — 224
The Meadows text messages — 230
Presidents are not kings — 238
Legitimate political discourse — 241
Taking the 5th — 244
The illegality of the plan was obvious — 248
Trump thought Pence deserved to be hanged — 252
To the best of my recollection, I don’t recall — 258
Not the mastermind — 263
Part V: The relentless march of evidence: May to December 2022
Seven-part plan — 269
I was slipping in people’s blood — 282
A grave disservice to the country — 285
Tantamount to a revolution — 292
Conspiracy theories and thug violence — 297
It may have spiraled us into a constitutional crisis — 305
Hideaway 2.0 — 308
Ketchup on the wall — 315
We did our duty and we stood for truth — 318
President Trump is a 76-year-old man. He is not an impressionable child — 324
Freedom must not and will not die here — 333
You’re welcome, @KariLake — 344
They knew — 347
State of mind — 351
Never again — 353
Unfit for any office — 355
Epilogue — 363
Acknowledgments — 369
Notes — 373
Yeah, but…she was perfectly willing to be part of the same system until it turned against her and impacted her personally. I have the same issues with the rapidly-dwindling numbers of Republicans who refer to themselves as “Never-Trumpsters”: where did they think a party based in racism, patriarchy, white nationalism, jingoism, and appealing to the lowest levels of ignorant bullying was going to end up? Trump is a symptom—definitely the worst one, but just a symptom nonetheless—of what happens when a party hitches its wagon to demagoguery and fundamentalism to achieve its goals. What happened on January 6 wasn’t a bug, it was a feature.
/Dismounting soapbox now!
I agree, but I couldn’t help but be reminded of this:
“Marriages don’t break up over infidelity. It’s just a symptom that something else is wrong.”
“Oh, really? Well, that symptom is fucking my wife.”
There is no Republican Party as we knew it over the last century. Anyone who calls January 6 a “peaceful” demonstration needs to go. Sadly, the few who were willing to stand up – late or not – have all been expelled or given up themselves. So yes, I admire Cheney for staying and fighting and standing up and telling them off to their faces, even if I deplore what she stood for otherwise. Compare her with the formerly “moderate” (at least by Republican standards) Elise Stefanik, who sold (no, gave away) her soul to be Trump’s sycophantic attack dog, in hopes of a Vice Presidential nod perhaps. (Though if Trump does pick a woman, it will probably be a better looking one, right?)
Jeff, Elise Stefanik is running for Vice-President right now. But rumors swirl that Tim Scott might be Trump’s choice.
I suspect that despite Scott’s obsequiousness, that Kari Lake still has as much chance as anyone.
Todd, there’s no doubt Kari Lake’s wacky Trump beliefs make her a candidate for VP. But I’m guessing Trump would rather go with a sitting Senator and not a defeated Governor candidate.
Alice informs me she also was gushing for DeSantis, which if I was aware of I had forgotten, as well, so that’s likely kaput. I suspect he’s happier to have Scott kissing his fundament in such a fulsome way than on the ticket, no matter how much that is Scott’s goal. Mein Drumpf isn’t so fond of melanin, after all.
What Fearful Whiner wants is someone who won’t challenge him, who will do what they’re told in all circumstances, and will in some way help him win. I suspect he also sees South Carolina already in his pocket, and while Scott’s obsequiousness might well be genuine (though the Former Guy might be able to note how brief his loyalty to Haley was), I suspect it won’t carry the day.
Todd, Haley will pester Trump as long as her donors keep writing her checks.
Deb, I agree with you. Cheney (and her father) were part of the corrupt political system. But, finally, Trump and his minions became a Bridge Too Far for Cheney and the few Never-Trumpsters who still survive.
I agree with Deb (any sensible person would 100% of the time), bt I have to give Cheney credit for finally standing up to the bullies, the low-lifes, and the quislings trying to destroy our country.
Jerry, Cheney stood up to Trump and Kevin McCarthy and the Republican wackos…but it cost her dearly.
We are all in agreement on this and the likelihood of persuading anyone new grows less every day. We are just bystanders at the sinking of the Titanic.
Patti, yesterday NBC released their latest Poll that reported Trump leads Biden 47% to 42%. Our country has gone bonkers!
Oh no!
I’ve never discussed much politics on my almost 20.visits to the USA but I don’t remember talking to any Bush (in the earlier days ……..) or Trump fans.
Just can’t imagine sane people falling for Trump.
Wolf, the inexplicable support for Trump among Independents and once-moderate Republicans continues to baffle the rest of us.
Well, among the reasons for it is that Biden and his camp aren’t good at publicizing their better work, but are also not too good at making public their attempts (apparently) to rein in Netanyahu, while also now trying to suppress the Iranian tools (not necessarily the best way), and generally not doing the publicity job too well.
Nonetheless, polls at this point (and usually) are pretty useless. The incumbent is always given a shorter shrift than the most famous/other large pary challenger, and not a few pollsters are Very rigid in what they ask and want to hear. I’ve dealt with pollsters who didn’t want me to tell them the truth, so much as the spin they wanted to put on it…and this included “news media” pollsters as well as campaign pollsters. And they want to overstate the affect of third party and independent candidates (for good and ill), as so few voters choose to vote for them in most elections, particularly when the choices are less homogenous (spell-checker thinks that’s misspelled, apparently) than Bill Clinton and his fellow Republicans were in Ross Perot’s attempts (as another fellow Republican, for most intents and purposes) .
Liz Cheney gets points for standing up against Trumpoids by me as well, even as she remains a Cheney (her father got points for refusing to hide his resentment of those who wanted him to throw his lesbian daughter under the bus, and little else)(reactionaries are always good at resentment, however).
Trump, even as a “fresh” disgusting face, never has managed to genuinely win an election, and I foresee him keeping up that trend. If there’s a more US troops war in the Middle East, that won’t help.
Books you might’ve already twigged to: Tin Nguyen’s THE MAGA DIARIES: MY SURREAL ADVENTURES WITHIN THE RIGHT WING (AND HOW I GOT OUT) and another whose title has slipped out of memory. Shall Look Around.
Todd, I’ll have to check out those titles!
Or, even, Tina Nguyen’s.
I’ll not get sucked into more political wrangling but I will note there there’s no depth that EITHER SIDE won’t sink to in order to maintain their power!
Bob, politics is a dirty game. That’s why the Founding Fathers installed a limited Government.