Influential Anti-Trump Republicans Issue Warnings on Jan 6 Anniversary

Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger, both former Republican representatives and outspoken critics of former President Donald Trump, marked the third anniversary of the Jan 6 insurrection by issuing stark warnings about the danger Trump continues to pose to the US.

Dark future

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“He won’t leave office,” Cheney said in an address to Dartmouth College students. “He already tried not to leave office once.”

Remembering Jan 6

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Cheney was one member of the House select committee that investigated the Jan 6 riot. In December 2022, the group concluded that Trump was personally responsible for the insurrection, and recommended he face criminal charges, per Newsweek.

Fantasy world

“I think there’s a lot of living in a fantasy world,” Cheney continued, “that’s going on with Republicans telling themselves, ‘Look, we’ll vote for him, it won’t be so bad.’ It may well be the last real vote you ever get to cast. It will be that bad.”

Continued denial

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Trump continues to deny engaging in insurrection. He also continues to spread conspiracies about the 2020 election, which have repeatedly been found to be baseless.

Wannabe dictator

In December, Trump drew criticism for saying he would only be a dictator on “day one” if he were returned to the White House. He has been repeatedly scrutinized for praising dictators, too; in July, he noted that Chinese leader Xi Jinping “runs 1.4 billion people with an iron fist. Smart, brilliant, everything perfect. There’s nobody in Hollywood like this guy.”

Ineligible for office

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“I don’t believe he should be a part of our political process,” Cheney said. “This is a process that will go through the courts and that we’ll see, sort of, how that unfolds. But there’s no question in my mind that his actions clearly constituted an offense that is within the language of the 14th Amendment.”

Constitutional matter

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Section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment states that an individual is ineligible to hold office if they engaged in “insurrection or rebellion” against the US. Colorado and Maine have ruled that Trump should be removed from the ballot due to his participation in an insurrection, and other states are debating whether to follow suit. The Supreme Court is considering the Colorado case, with a judgment expected imminently.

Dangerous threat

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Trump’s actions on Jan 6, which included telling his supporters to “fight like hell,” “threaten the very foundations of our democracy,” Cheney argued.

Real motive

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“Donald Trump is running again because he’s a small, frightened man who sees the justice he deserves for #Jan6 and countless other crimes catching up to him,” Kinzinger wrote on X, formerly Twitter.

Solemn day

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“Today the third anniversary of this stain on our democracy is not a day just to revisit darkness,” Kinzinger continued, “but rather is a perfect time to expose and shine a light upon lies. I’ve always said democracies are not judged by their bad days, but how we emerge from them. And that history has yet to be written.”

Call to action

“In a little over two weeks,” Cheney said, “when you in New Hampshire go to the polls, the world will be watching. And so, New Hampshire, I ask you this: Speak for us all. Show the world that we will defeat the plague of cowardice sweeping through the Republican Party.”