Frank G. Splitt is a regular reader of the blog and a retired engineer of great distinction. He sent me his Amazon review of Liz Cheney’s best-selling book about the Congressional hearings conducted by the January 6 Select Committee. I have been meaning to review the book myself but put it off and am glad to print Frank’s review, as I agree with him.
I found the book to be absorbing, revealing what Congressional leaders said to one another on the day of the insurrection, as well as the inner workings of the January 6 Committee. Cheney doesn’t pull her punches. She was appalled by Trump’s disrespect for the Constitution and his egregious lying. She is contemptuous of Congressionals leaders like Kevin McCarthy who first condemned the violent attack, then turned on a dime to bend his knee to Trump.
Liz Cheney gave up her leadership role because of strong principles. Chief among these was her oath to the Constitution. She refused to betray it, and by doing so, she gave up the likelihood that she would one day be Speaker of the House. Very few Republicans were willing to follow her lead. I have immense respect for her.
Frank G. Splitt writes:
Liz Cheney wrote the book with purpose in mind: to assure that the January 6 Select Committee’s work that revealed the culpability of former president Donald Trump in the January 6.2021, attack on the U.S. Capital would not only be thoroughly documented for posterity, but would also illuminate in detail his criminal behavior backed by solid evidence via trustworthy testimony, mostly from members of his own administration.
The book is fact-based and well organized—providing the author’s first-hand beginning-to-end account of the January 6th, 2021, insurrection from outside and inside the halls of the Capital. She tells in consummate detail how, in the aftermath of the 2020 presidential election, Donald Trump ignored the rulings of dozens of courts, plotted to overturn a lawful election, and provoked a violently egregious attack on our Capitol. Cheney goes on to tell how Trump and his congressional enablers broke their oaths of office— betraying the American people and the Constitution in their attempt to prevent the counting of electoral votes and so keep Trump in office.
Liz Cheney helped organize and lead the Congressional Select Committee investigation into how it happened. In her book she tells the story of this perilous moment in our history—exposing those who helped Trump spread his stolen-election lie while forsaking her promising political career in the process.
In the end, I am disappointed not only with the gullibility of so many American citizens who buy into Trump‘s lies, but even more so with craven politicians who keep silent for fear of losing their positions in Congress. No doubt, Cheney would have been near the top of the list of courageous U. S, Senators in John Kennedy’s 1956 book Profiles in Courage.
I am also somewhat disappointed that Trump did not respond to the Select Committee’s subpoena to testify before the committee. By not appearing, Cheney was denied the opportunity to emulate Senate lawyer Joseph Welch’s admonition of lying Wisconsin Senator Joseph McCarthy at the 1953 Army-McCarthy hearing by saying: Mr. Former President, you’ve done enough. Have you no sense of decency, sir, at long last? Have you left no sense of decency?
This should be a must-read book for every American voter as Cheney’s warning concerning the likely consequences of Trump’s return to office is indeed chilling.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
I listened to the audio book. Riveting, in Liz Cheney’s own voice. If she ran for president, I would possibly vote for her, even as a life long Democrat. She is very conservative, but clearly willing and able to work on both sides of the aisle. Her integrity supersedes my concerns about policy differences. Of course, this won’t happen. But her story shows what true integrity looks like.
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I listened to the audio book. Riveting, in Liz Cheney’s own voice. If she ran for president, I would possibly vote for her, even as a life long Democrat. She is very conservative, but clearly willing and able to work on both sides of the aisle. Her integrity supersedes my concerns about policy differences. Of course, this won’t happen. But her story shows what true integrity looks like.
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One thing that has irked me is the response to Cheney by some on the left. Whenever I have pointed to her bravery I have gotten pushback, which generally takes the form of “But she’s a horrible person, she’s just as bad as all the other Republicans!”
My response has always been “Of course she has beliefs I don’t like, she’s a Republican! By opposing Trump she didn’t cast off her beliefs and philosophy. That doesn’t diminish her integrity and courage one whit!”
Even if I virulently disagree with most of her politics, that doesn’t blind me to her principled objections to Trump. More importantly, the more we build commonality, the more we will be listened to, and not just heard. It is far better to engage with those we disagree with than to retreat to our corners sputtering in resentment.
I grew up at a time when Democrats and Republicans at least still listened to each other. When we judge people by making one thing – political identity – more important than even common sense, we play the fool.
Dialogue is always more valuable than blind allegiance. As a prosecutor, I rarely had a problem with defense attorneys. I had lunch with them, I would go out after work and have drinks with them. And sometimes, it made reaching the best result for all an easier get.
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while I agree with you, I also understand the frustration of the people you describe above as “on the left.” I personally have always been so middle of the road that it became often a joke among friends. But with the election of Obama, I have been increasingly disparaged as distantly on the left for suggesting that there were problems with medical costs, income disparity, and rising racial disharmony. The body politic has moved dangerously to the right, and it’s not just trump.
If Liz Cheney wants my admiration, she would do well to explain how she could support trump in 2016, not just after January 6. She would do well to publicly denounce the massive voter purges that are inevitably coming in the fall. She’s off up s good start. Now let her defend democracy.
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That’s what she’s been doing. At the cost of her job.
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