I have just started reading the remarkable daily newsletter published by Heather Cox Richardson, professor of history at Boston College. You too can subscribe: https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/subscribe

Today’s post discusses the Colorado Supreme Court’s decision to bar Donald Trump from the state ballot because of his participation in the January 6 insurrection. Although I profoundly wish it were otherwise, I do not believe the U.S. Supreme Court will sustain that decision. I will explain why in another post shortly. But the HCR piece also reminded me that Kevin McCarthy, “the first speaker ever thrown out by his own party, today officially resigned his seat.”

McCarthy needs more free time to search for his backbone that went missing when he was on his knees trying to placate all sides, but ultimately just Donald Trump, on the questions raised by Trump’s efforts to overthrow the government. McCarthy’s persistent lying is recounted in gruesome detail in Liz Cheney’s remarkable memoir, Oath and Honor, A Memoir and a Warning. I am only halfway through her mesmerizing recounting of the days leading up to, through and beyond the January 6 attack on the Capitol but the pattern is clear, especially regarding McCarthy’s behavior. Most of the Republicans in Congress then do not come out much better. But McCarthy was one of their leaders.

To be clear, I abhor most of Liz Cheney’s political views (and those of her father, W’s former VP) but her courage in the face of Donald Trump’s criminality warrants our endorsement. It cost her a position as a Republican Party leader and ultimately her seat in Congress. As recounted in Wikipedia [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liz_Cheney], Cheney supported Trump’s second impeachment and rejected his claim that the 2020 election was stolen.

Slithering on his belly, a characteristic of invertebrates, Kevin McCarthy supported her removal from party leadership. The final straw came when Cheney accepted service as Vice Chair of the House Select Committee on the January 6 Attack. The Wyoming Republican Party, ever obedient to Trump, revoked her membership and she was defeated in the next primary by a Trump-endorsed robot.

We can never undo the past, but we can learn from it. Cheney’s book contains a multitude of chapter-and-verse revelations from inside the Congress throughout the period around January 6. This is a must-read book for anyone who wants to understand more deeply what transpired, who was responsible and all the ugly rest.

It’s good that McCarthy is gone. The ethical quotient of the Congress went up the moment he departed, though it remains to be seen who will replace him in the House. The mind boggles. We hope McCarthy finds his backbone though the odds seem long. It’s more likely he will hang around Mar-a-Lago licking Trump’s boots and hoping for a job in the next Trump administration.

You will recall that is what most of the Republicans did who opposed Trump’s nomination for the presidency in 2016. Even Mitt Romney bent the knee to Trump after the election. Lindsey Graham called Trump a “race-baiting xenophobic religious bigot” among many other things, concluding with “tell Donald Trump to go to hell.” http://tinyurl.com/yh59tz3b Then Graham, like McCarthy, became one of Trump’s strongest defenders.

Read Liz Cheney’s book and you will understand more deeply, if you don’t already, why Donald Trump must never set foot in the White House again. Also subscribe to Heather Cox Richardson’s newsletter for amazing daily insights into America’s descent into hell.