INDIANAPOLIS—In some ways, former President Donald Trump and his followers already have won the cold civil war for America’s soul.
The former president and his assorted minions have trashed, defaced, and destroyed many of this nation’s venerable and once-revered institutions in their quest to make America great again. In doing so, they have demonstrated that many of the structural supports bolstering our system of self-government are much more fragile than we previously thought.They have shown us that our nation of laws collapses absent good faith and goodwill. What steps forth from the rubble is little more than narcissistic chest-thumping and exercises in self-delusion.

The latest evidence of the gains the Trump insurrectionists in their campaign to undermine the grand American experiment in constitutional self-government came when the Jan. 6 committee in the U.S. House of Representatives subpoenaed five Republican House members. Among the five members is Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-California.

The committee issued the subpoenas because the five GOP members of Congress refused to cooperate in the investigation of the Jan. 6 insurrection, when a shouting mob overran the Capitol and threatened to hang Vice President Mike Pence and kill House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-California, among others.

These five Republican members refused even though they all took oaths when they assumed office.

Each said, “I do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion, and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter. So help me God.”

An oath, it seems, is only as good as the character of the person who swears it and of the political party that welcomes him or her into its fold.

These five refused even though they also were among those who applauded and chanted along with Trump’s vows to imprison his 2016 Democratic opponent, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. They accused her of malfeasance in the raid on Benghazi that cost American lives.

Clinton willingly testified to Congress about the affair.

For 11 hours.

She answered every question put to her.

For 11 hours.

She did it because that’s what elected officials do.

To answer questions about one’s service is a responsibility.

Even a duty.

But only, it seems, if the elected official feels any compulsion to honor a duty.

To live up to his or her oath office.

By refusing to cooperate thus far, these five Republican members of Congress and other Trump allies who have resisted testifying have created a series of constitutional tests.

If they refuse to submit to the subpoenas, they can be held in contempt—if, that is, Attorney Merrick Garland chooses to pursue the matter. Thus far, Garland has been less than aggressive in doing so.

If he doesn’t and the Trump allies defy the subpoenas, a dangerous precedent will be set.

Expect it to be solidified should Republicans regain control of Congress in the fall elections. They have vowed retribution against Democrats and pledged to create their own investigations into affairs of the administration of President Joe Biden. Republicans have threatened to subpoena Democrats in those efforts.

If they do, Democrats inevitably will cite the examples of McCarthy and his fellow Republicans as a justification for refusing to comply.

And one more pillar of our representative democracy—the notion that elected officials are answerable to the public they serve—will crumble.

This is what a race to the bottom looks like.

That’s where Donald Trump’s “leadership” has taken us.

He and other bottom feeders can and do thrive there.

But a great nation?

Not so much.

Not at all, in fact.

FOOTNOTE:  The City-County Observer posted this article without bias or editing.