Read the Epilogue: Oath and Honor by Liz Cheney
Epilogue
Thomas Jefferson was the first president to take the oath of office in Washington, DC. On March 4, 1801, he was sworn in at the US Capitol Building — which at the time consisted of a single small structure that would eventually become the north wing of the building we know today. Among the visitors in attendance was Margaret Bayard Smith, wife of the owner of one of Washington’s major newspapers. She wrote this to her sister‑in‑law:
I have this morning witnessed one of the most interesting scenes a free people can ever witness. The changes of administration, which in every government and in every age have most generally been epochs of confusion, villainy, and bloodshed, in this our happy country take place without any species of distraction or disorder.
Four years earlier, President George Washington had handed power to President John Adams, but this was the first time power had passed from one party to another. And those watching understood what a momentous — indeed, miraculous — thing it was for that to happen absent “confusion, villainy, and bloodshed.” Until January 2021, every American president had fulfilled his solemn obligation to safeguard the peaceful transfer of power. Every four or eight years, down through our history, candidates of both parties have put aside personal ambition and political battles for the good of the nation — even after the closest of presidential races.
As I was writing this book, I found — pasted onto the pages of one of my Grandmother Cheney’s scrapbooks — President Ford’s concession statement from November 1976. Ford lost the presidential election that year to Jimmy Carter. The final tally in the Electoral College was 297 to 240.
During the closing days of that campaign, President Ford had lost his voice. The morning after the election, when he placed the call to Jimmy Carter to concede the race, Ford handed the phone to his 35‑year‑old chief of staff, Dick Cheney, to read the concession statement to President‑elect Carter. In the statement my father read, President Ford congratulated Carter on his victory, then looked to the future:
As one who has been honored to serve the people of this great land — both in Congress and as President — I believe that we must now put the divisions of the campaign behind us and unite the country once again in a common pursuit of peace and prosperity.
Despite the policy differences between the two men, President Ford assured Carter that he would have Ford’s “complete and wholehearted support” as he took the oath of office. Ford also pledged that he and all members of his administration would do everything they could to ensure Carter began his term “as smoothly and effectively as possible.” Gerald Ford’s statement ended, “May God bless you and your family as you undertake your new responsibilities.”
One leader ceding power to the next, gracious in defeat, pledging unity for the good of the nation — that is what is required by fidelity to the Constitution and love of country. We depend upon the goodwill of our leaders and their dedication to duty to ensure the survival of our republic. Only a man unacquainted with honor, courage, and character would see weakness in this.
In a just world, the January 6th Select Committee investigation, and the criminal prosecutions that have now followed, would be the end of a dark period in our nation’s history. The man who mobilized a violent assault on our Capitol — who attempted to overturn an election and seize power — would have no political future. Donald Trump and those who aided him would be scorned and punished. But as I write this in the fall of 2023, Trump is running for president of the United States once again, and he holds a sizable lead among Republican contenders. Today, none of us can tell if the story of January 6 is nearing its end or is only just beginning. We may have many darker chapters ahead.
When I questioned Jared Kushner during his appearance before the January 6th Committee on March 31, 2022, the presidential son‑in‑law attempted to suggest that those criticizing Donald Trump were making the mistake of taking his words literally — that Trump often made hyperbolic and provocative statements as a kind of sport. But the events of January 6 demonstrated that Donald Trump meant what he said. He actually intended to achieve the most extreme things he was suggesting. And on the morning of January 6, 2021, he believed that his schemes would allow him to continue in the presidency despite having lost the election.
Today, we must take Donald Trump’s statements literally. Trump has told us that he thinks the Constitution can and should be suspended when necessary, that what happened on January 6 was justified, that in a second Trump presidency he would seek retribution. And much more. Some have suggested that “the normal U.S. checks and balances” of our constitutional system would constrain Trump. They won’t.
We have seen what a group of dishonest and unscrupulous lawyers will do in service to Donald Trump. An American president surrounded by people like these could dismantle our republic. It would not necessarily all happen on the first day of a second Trump term. But step by step, Donald Trump would tear down the walls that our framers so carefully built to combat centralized power and tyranny. He would attempt to dismantle what Justice Antonin Scalia called the “real constitutional law.” Perhaps Trump would start by refusing to enforce certain judicial rulings he opposed. He has already attacked the judiciary repeatedly, and ignored the rulings of scores of courts. He knows that judicial rulings have force only if the executive branch enforces them. So he won’t.
Certainly, Donald Trump would run the US government with acting officials who are not, and could not be, confirmed by the Senate. He would obtain a bogus legal opinion allowing him to do it. He would ensure that the Senate confirmation process is no longer any check on his authority.
The types of resignation threats that may have kept Trump at bay before — that, for example, convinced him to reverse his appointment of Jeffrey Clark as acting attorney general — would no longer be a deterrent. Trump would be eager for those who oppose his actions at the Justice Department and elsewhere to resign. And, at the Department of Defense (where a single US senator, one of Donald Trump’s strongest supporters, is doing great harm to America’s national security by refusing to allow the confirmation of senior civilian or military officials), Trump would again install his own team of loyalists — people who would act on his orders without hesitation.
This is not speculation.
This is what Donald Trump has already told us he will do.
This is what he has already done.
Step by step, Donald Trump would tear down the other structures that restrain an American president. No Pat Cipollone, no Mike Pence, no Greg Jacob, no Bill Barr, no Jeff Rosen — none of them would be there to stop what Donald Trump attempts. The assumption that our institutions will protect themselves is purely wishful thinking by people who prefer to look the other way. Those loyalists and lawyers who step up to help Trump unravel our republic would do so knowing that they would be pardoned. That they would face no risk of prosecution. And Donald Trump would not hesitate to pardon himself. Any who step forward to oppose Trump will face the types of threats, retaliation, and violence we have already seen — but this time with the full power of an unconstrained American president behind them.
We have also now learned that most Republicans currently in Congress will do what Donald Trump asks, no matter what it is. We can‑ not rely on them to check his power. A Senate of Josh Hawleys certainly won’t stop Trump. Neither will House Republicans led by a Speaker who has made himself a willing hostage to Trump and his most unhinged sup‑ porters in Congress. I am very sad to say that America can no longer count on a body of elected Republicans to protect our republic.
Meanwhile, those in the media who have willingly spread Donald Trump’s dangerous claims and propaganda for profit will continue to propel him forward. They know that what he says and does is wrong. They know the consequences of what they are doing. But they do it anyway.
Donald Trump will be on trial as he runs for the presidency in 2024. We cannot know for certain what the next year holds. But we have already seen enough to know what might happen.
In November 1800, John Adams wrote to his wife, Abigail, after he had spent his first night in the White House. His letter included a prayer, which is now inscribed above the fireplace in the White House state dining room. It reads, in part, “May none but honest and wise men ever rule under this roof.” Adams knew that the character of our leaders mattered. He and our other founders knew that the institutions of self‑government could not sustain and protect themselves. It would fall to the people of this nation — and to our elected leaders — to do that. The perpetuation of our institutions and the defense of our Constitution now depend on us. At some point, a genuinely conservative Republican Party — a party that stands for limited government, a strong national defense, and the rule of law — can reemerge and win the presidency. But if Donald Trump is the Republican nominee in 2024, we must do everything we can to defeat him. If Trump is on the ballot, the 2024 presidential election will not just be about inflation, or budget deficits, or national security, or any of the many critical issues we Americans normally face. We will be voting on whether to preserve our republic. As a nation, we can endure damaging policies for a four‑year term. But we cannot survive a president willing to terminate our Constitution.
If you visit the National Archives in Washington, DC, you can see America’s founding documents on display. Look down through the glass at our Constitution and you will notice immediately that the first three words of the document, written in 1787, are larger than all the others. Those words — We the People — describe our power and our responsibility. In the era of Trump, certain members of Congress and other Trump enablers — many of whom carry the Constitution in their pocket but seem never to have read it — have attempted to hijack this phrase, to claim it gives them authority to subvert the rule of law or overturn the results of elections. They have preyed on the patriotism of millions of Americans. They are working to return to office the man responsible for January 6.
We the people must stop them. We are the only thing that can stop them. This is more important than partisan politics. Every one of us — Republican, Democrat, Independent — must work and vote together to ensure that Donald Trump and those who have appeased, enabled, and collaborated with him are defeated.
This is the cause of our time.
INSTANT #1 BESTSELLER: A gripping first-hand account of the January 6th, 2021, insurrection from inside the halls of Congress, from origins to aftermath, as Donald Trump and his enablers betrayed the American people and the Constitution—by the House Republican leader who dared to stand up to it.
In the aftermath of the 2020 presidential election, Donald Trump and many around him, including certain other elected Republican officials, intentionally breached their oath to the Constitution: 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, and then helped lead the Congressional Select Committee investigation into how it happened. In Oath and Honor, she tells the story of this perilous moment in our history, those who helped Trump spread the stolen election lie, those whose actions preserved our constitutional framework, and the risks we still face.