Trump’s disgusting enablers violate their oaths to defend the Constitution

Step by step, the MAGA Republicans have joined Trump in taking a torch to American institutions at the foundation of democracy. They’ve given him a pass on being an extortionist in foreign policy (his first impeachment), approved of his stacking of the Supreme Court with anti-abortion zealots (after refusing to even consider a moderate during President Obama’s last year in office) and, worst of all, looked the other way at Trump’s lead role in the Jan. 6 insurrection and the attempt to stop the peaceful transfer of power. Now, following the jury’s verdict in New York — finding Trump guilty on 34 counts of business fraud in furtherance of a scheme to win the 2016 presidential election — Republicans join in Trump’s toxic rants against the criminal justice system. I run this down in my weekend column, mentioning Maryland Republicans who have called Trump’s trial and conviction a “travesty of justice.” And Maryland’s one Republican in Congress, Dr. Do-Nothing Andy Harris, is right there with the worst of them, using the exact language I quote in my column from other Republicans: “a travesty of justice and a blatant attempt by the Biden Justice Department to jail a political opponent in the middle of an election year.” I doubt any of these people have much experience with the court system, state or federal; they’ve joined the Trump cult and repeat what the con man says, no matter how it poisons the public mind about the rule of law and the ideal of no man above it. They repeat the lie that the 2020 election was rigged, and now they say Trump’s trial was rigged. We have the Speaker of the House calling on the Supreme Court to overturn the New York jury verdict. All of this constitutes sabotage of our democracy. It is truly a violation of the oath they took to defend the Constitution, and it is truly disgusting.

FYI: Here’s the Congressional Oath: I do solemnly swear (or affirm) 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.

FYI: Here’s what the Maryland Constitution says: Every person elected, or appointed, to any office of profit or trust, under this Constitution, or under the Laws, made pursuant thereto, shall, before he enters upon the duties of such office, take and subscribe the following oath, or affirmation: I, _______________, do swear, (or affirm, as the case may be,) that I will support the Constitution of the United States; and that I will be faithful and bear true allegiance to the State of Maryland, and support the Constitution and Laws thereof; and that I will, to the best of my skill and judgment, diligently and faithfully, without partiality or prejudice, execute the office of________________, according to the Constitution and Laws of this State, (and, if a Governor, Senator, Member of the House of Delegates, or Judge,) that I will not directly or indirectly, receive the profits or any part of the profits of any other office during the term of my acting as___________ (Chapter 681, Acts of 1977, ratified Nov. 7, 1978).