Oath and Honor

 

Liz Cheney, “Oath and Honor, Little Brown & Co. 2023, 372 pp..

“Oath and Honor: A Memoir and a Warning” details how Donald Trump and his supporters violated the American people and the Constitution, setting the stage for the deadly assault on our Capitol building on January 6, 2021. The author of the book is Liz Cheney, the leader of the House Republican Conference, one of the few Republicans who opposed Trump and his allies.  I also recommend Cassidy Hutchenson’s book Enough.

Part I:

The Betrayal describes how Donald Trump and many around him, including certain other elected Republican officials, intentionally breached the Constitution and their oaths. They ignored the rulings of dozens of courts, plotted to overturn a lawful election, and provoked a violent attack on our Capitol. Liz Cheney, one of the few Republican officials to take a stand against these efforts, witnessed the attack first-hand

Part II:

The Investigation describes how Liz Cheney assisted in heading the investigation into the attack’s cause by the Congressional Select Committee. She narrates the tale of this dangerous time in our history, the people who assisted Trump in disseminating the fraudulent election results, and the people whose deeds helped to maintain the integrity of our constitution.

Part III:

The threats we still face. The Warning: Liz Cheney issues a warning, saying that this was a sign of a bigger issue rather than an isolated act. She makes the case that the Republican Party ought to go back to its foundations and reject the perilous, anti-democratic forces that have emerged in the last several years.

To sum up,

“Oath and Honor: A Memoir and a Warning” offers a distinctive viewpoint on one of the most turbulent eras in American history and is a compelling and topical read. Anyone who is concerned about the future of our democracy and the rule of law should read it.

My Notes:

Pg. 15:  During the transition from one president to another, what happens at the Pentagon is especially important.  Ensuring stability and a smooth transition is crucial.  No lame-duck president focused on securing the nation would replace his top civilian leaders at DOD days after losing an election.  Yet that is what Trump was doing when he fired Mark Esper, the Secretary of Defense, on November 9.  Esper believed he was fired because he had made it clear that he would not stand for any use of the military to contest the outcome of an election.

Pg. 114:  At 4:00 AM on January 7^th, Congress certified that Biden had defeated Trump by an electoral count of 306 to 232.

Pg. 142:  Only two of the ten Republicans that voted to impeach Trump after January 6^th were returned by the voters to the 118^th Congress.

Pg. 144f: The day after the House Impeachment vote, Cheney called Paul Ryan at Fox News and suggested that Fox put together a show to debunk Trump’s lies about the election.  Ryan agreed and began to set up just such a show.  Several months later the show was canceled.  Later, Fox put together a three-part series called Patriot Purge, which ultimately did air on its streaming service.  Narrated by Tucker Carlson, Patriot Purge seemed to be a purposeful effort at misinformation.  It made false and incendiary claims suggesting that federal agents had incited the January 6 attack to entrap American citizens.  Lies about the January 6 attack were apparently acceptable programming, the truth about the election was not.