After three days of joy in the sun, coaching pole vault at a track camp; I was home all day Thursday in the recliner. My legs needed a rest, and my face escape from the sun. But my mind was completely engulfed. It was day three of the January 6th<\/sup> hearings, and I watched gavel to gavel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n My friends in the left-leaning media were unhappy. \u201cThey spent hours in the weeds of legal argument,\u201d they said, \u201cand wasted the time and attention of the American people\u201d. As a history teacher and a student of the Constitution, I didn\u2019t feel like the Committee wasted my time. <\/p>\n\n\n\n They made it very clear: the Eastman plan (or as Navarro called it, the \u201cGreen Bay Sweep\u201d) was clearly unconstitutional. The lawyers in the White House Counsel\u2019s office said it, the Vice President\u2019s lawyers saw it, one of the leading conservative Republican judges in the nation said it (Judge Luttig is to conservatives as Lawrence Tribe is to liberals). Even the author of the plan, John Eastman said it (it would fail 9-0 in the Supreme Court). And they said it all well before January 6th<\/sup>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n But it really doesn\u2019t matter what I thought of the hearing, because the hearing of Thursday, June 16th<\/sup>, wasn\u2019t really for me. It was for a different audience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Yesterday\u2019s hearing was for those Republicans who have been uncomfortable with the abrogation of Constitutional responsibility by Donald Trump from the day of the election, and even before. It was for those Republicans who know, deep in their hearts, that the election wasn\u2019t stolen, and that the Trump campaign actions were wrong. It called on those Republicans to have the courage of the Vice President\u2019s Chief of Staff Marc Short, or conservative Judge Michael Luttig, or White House counsel Pat Cipillone. They stood up against the Trump team and their illegal scheme to subvert the election.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And most importantly, the Vice President of the United States, Mike Pence, showed the political, moral, and personal courage to stand up not only to the President, but to the mob who was literally calling for his own head. Pence could have escaped the risk, whisked away to an undisclosed location by the Secret Service. His Secret Service team demanded that he get in the car.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But Pence understood what that would look like; the aerial shot of the limousines speeding away from the Capitol Building. It would lend strength to the mob, to the movement to postpone the certification of votes. It would have aided and abetted the agents trying to subvert the Constitution. So he refused to go, and stayed to fulfill his Constitutional duty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There probably aren\u2019t three issues where I agree with those men, Republicans who stood up against Donald Trump.\u00a0\u00a0But on those days leading up to the Insurrection, and on the day where some were at great personal risk, they stood for the Constitution.\u00a0\u00a0They were Republicans who showed the courage to stand up against Donald Trump.\u00a0\u00a0Two committee members, Congressmen Cheney and Kinzinger, also stand for principle over political expediency.\u00a0\u00a0Thursday\u2019s hearing asked other Republicans to turn away from a path leading to the end of our Democracy, and stand up and do the same.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Thirty percent of Americans are determined to back Donald Trump.\u00a0\u00a0Another thirty percent of Americans are committed to stopping the Trumpian movement.\u00a0\u00a0And the remainder of America is \u201cin the middle\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0Many of those folks consider themselves as \u201cRepublican thinking\u201d, not a part of the MAGA movement.\u00a0\u00a0This hearing was for them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If there is a non-Trumpian future for the Republican Party, it will gather around those who stood for principles, and against Trump. Mike Pence, Liz Cheney, and others will suffer the short term price for their courage. But in a future world, when the failure of MAGA is clear, they will be the ones representing conservative views.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Committee is highlighting why Trump remains dangerous for Democracy. Fox News talking points to the contrary, it\u2019s not a \u201cliberal witch hunt\u201d. The goal of the Committee is to protect our Democracy from, as Judge Luttig stated, \u201c\u2026a clear and present danger to our future Democracy\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Yesterday\u2019s hearing invited Republicans to join in stopping that clear and present danger. Stand for the Constitution \u2013 even if it doesn\u2019t mean short-term political gain. That\u2019s the Republican, Democratic, and American Way. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Courageous Republicans<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Thirty Percent<\/h3>\n\n\n\n