Jan. 6 committee set to dutifully detail Donald Trump's dereliction of duty

Donald Trump apparently didn’t read the fine print in the presidential job description.

He apparently didn't even read the regular print.

The responsibilities of the president of the United States are laid out fairly well and in big letters in the Constitution.

Of particular interest to the members of the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection is Article 2, Section 3, which outlines the duties of the president.

It’s not a terribly long list, surprisingly, and very easy to read. It includes a requirement that the president “shall take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed.”

At the hearing scheduled for Thursday the members of the committee are set to describe in some detail how Trump failed to execute those duties on Jan. 6.

'He had a duty to act' but did not

“This is going to open people’s eyes in a big way,” said Republican Rep. Adam Kinzinger, a member of the committee.

If only that were true.

Another member of the committee, Democratic Rep. Elaine Lauria said, “The commander in chief is the only person in the Constitution whose duty is explicitly laid out to ensure that the laws are faithfully executed. I look at it as a dereliction of duty. (Trump) didn’t act. He had a duty to act.”

You could argue that there is a lot of dereliction going around.

Kinzinger, for example, has been the object of vicious threats and derision since he agreed to participate in the committee.

At the last hearing, he played some of the nastier messages he’s received, many of which are not just suggestions of violence but promises.

And they’ve not just come to his office, but to his home.

In one message, the caller says, “We know where your family is, and we're going to get you, you little c---sucker.”

Another says, “Gonna get your wife, gonna get your kids.”

Threats recognized, threats ignored

A letter arrived, addressed to Kinzinger’s wife, saying Kinzinger “will be executed” and that his wife and their child will “be joining Adam in hell, too!”

In addition to Trump's ongoing behavior, the leadership of the Republican party is proving what dereliction of duty is all about.

It has been pointed out how Republican leaders in the House and the Senate made very public and repeated calls for protection when Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh was threatened.

They called for increased security around the homes of the justices who voted to overturn Roe v. Wade after protesters showed up on the street.

But, none of those same top Republicans have called for protection for Kinzinger or his family.

None have gone on TV condemning the threats. None of them tweeted the need to respect the congressional process and even praising Kinzinger for honoring his sworn oath.

Deleriction of duty versus ... duty

Instead, Kinzinger and fellow Republican Liz Cheney are constantly rebuked by members of their own party for daring to seek the truth about Dear Leader.

And because Republican leadership has abandoned them, it emboldens the crazies who reach out to Kinzinger each day with threats about “getting” him and his family.

Meantime, Kinzinger, Cheney and the rest of the committee go on with their work.

Thursday will be about all the opportunities Trump had to quell the violence on Jan. 6 and all the ways he failed to do so.

Faithfully executing the laws

“We will go through pretty much minute by minute during that time frame, from the time he left the stage at the Ellipse, came back to the White House, and really sat in the White House, in the dining room, with his advisers urging him continuously to take action, to take more action,” Rep. Luria said.

And yet Trump did not, ignoring that part of the Constitution that required him to “take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed.”

In spite of that, Trump is not derided by Republicans. Instead, he is lionized, while Kinzinger is threatened, making the committee itself a starkly sad study in contrasts.

Dereliction versus devotion.

Dishonor versus honor.

Reach Montini at ed.montini@arizonarepublic.com.

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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Dutifully detailing Donald Trump's dereliction of duty