Adam Kinzinger with Michael D’Antonio,Renegade: Defending Democracy and Liberty in our Divided Country(New York, NY: The Open Field/Penguin Life, 2023), 295 pages
Liz Cheney,Oath and Honor: A Memoir and a Warning(NY, NY: Little, Brown and Company, 2023), 372 pages
Cassidy Hutchinson, Enough(NY, NY: Simon & Schuster, 2023), 362 pages
Introduction
The events of January 6 th 2020 remain emblazoned on the conscience of all Americans. How will history record and explain the actions of those who participated in this drama? In 2023, three individuals published first-hand accounts: Adam Kinzinger with Michael D’Antonio, Renegade: Defending Democracy and Liberty in our Divided Country ; Liz Cheney,Oath and Honor: A Memoir and a Warning; Cassidy Hutchinson, Enough. Each of these accounts provides an invaluable insight into the failed insurrection of January 6th; each provides a critical insight into the current political expression of Christianity within America.
Renegade
Adam Kinzinger served our country in the Wisconsin Air National Guard (45) prior to being elected Representative for the Illinois 11 th Congressional District in 2010 (109). Coming from an Independent Fundamentalist Baptist (IFB) background, Kinzinger “questioned some of the basic assumptions of the faith” as an adolescent (11). On a scale of 1 to 10, 10 representing the most legalistic, according to Kinzinger, “IFBs might rate about an eight” (12). Given his knowledge of the Christian faith, you and I may assume Kinzinger is a Christian.
Renegade documents the underpinnings of the current Christian political movement from the Tea Party to Trumpism, from Jerry Falwell to Pat Robertson, from Ronald Reagan to George Bush Jr. That Kinzinger communicates the Christian roots of Trumpism helps you and I understand the passions underlying the 2020 insurrection. In this regard, his strategic insights into his fellow travelers proves intriguing and frequently drives the narrative. In Chapter 10, I Am a Traitor (and I’m Okay with It) , Kinzinger’s hopes and aspirations as a politician come to a dramatic turning point; will he fold to the pressure to succeed in a Republican Party under Trump or remain loyal to his oath of office and stand apart from his fellow legislators who participated in the insurrection—knowing it will cost him his political career and endanger his newly minted family? Along with Liz Cheney, Kinzinger was one of only two Republicans to serve on the House Select Committee investigating the January 6 th insurrection.
Eventually an important question percolates to the surface of Kinzinger’s account: In the face of such withering departures from the faith by so many fellow representatives, what happened to Kinzinger’s faith in Jesus Christ? “Evangelical theologian Russell Moore, a religious conservative who stresses Christ compassion, called me out of the blue. Moore is deeply worried about Christian nationalism and Evangelicals’ support for a man, Trump, who is a florid liar, a consummately divisive politician, and a cruel leader” (289). Moore introduced Kinzinger to the work of N.T. Wright, who
takes issue with much of conservative Christianity in America, including the widespread idea that we are living in the End Times and that before the Second Coming of Christ believers will be literally lifted into heaven in an event called the Rapture. …He is a deep thinker but also a man of deep warmth who reinforced my sense that the rage I encountered from people who claimed to be Christians represented the opposite of what’s taught in the Bible represented by Jesus (391).
Though you and I might look forward to the coming Rapture, we must agree with Kinzinger’s conclusion that the current rage, Trumpism, does not represent Jesus or His teachings.
Currently, the former congressman works to promote Country First, a political organization “(f)ormed to welcome (and support) Republicans, Democrats, and Independents ” in order to “advocate civic engagement, rank-choice voting that rewards top vote-getters, and nonpartisan primaries” (288; underlining added).
Oath and Honor
Liz Cheney, daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney, was first elected to the House of Representatives the same year Trump was elected President, 2016. As a life-long Republican with spotless pedigree, she rose quickly to become the chair of the House Republican Conference while serving on the House Rules, Natural Resources, and Armed Services Committees. A lawyer by training, she enjoyed a decided advantage as a legislator and a very promising career in American politics.
She and her husband of 31 years, Phil Perry, have five children. Like Kinzinger, Cheney is a Christian who openly identifies with Christ. “Liz’s faith has been a cornerstone in her life, with her family actively engaged in the Episcopalian Church for many years. The Cheney family is a regular at the Episcopal Church of the Good Samaritan in Jackson, Wyoming” (http://biblehint.com/what-religion-is-liz-cheney/#). In her prayer to the Republican Conference on the day she was removed as chairperson, she quoted Scripture: “Help us to speak the truth and remember the words of John 8:32: ‘Ye shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free.’ May our world see the power of faith, may our nation know the strength of selfless service” (182). The close collaboration between husband and wife recorded by Cheney throughout Oath and Honor, in particular, reveal a loving mature Christian marriage.
Unlike the younger Kinzinger (born 1978) and Hutchinson (1996), Cheney (1966) does not write about a personal crisis of faith, rather “(t)his is the story of the moment when American democracy began to unravel. It is the story of the men and women who fought to save it, and of the enablers and collaborators whose actions ensured the threat would grow and metastasize” (3). As such, Cheney’s story is an exacting historical account and a beautifully documented timeless indictment. (Sadly, the publisher relegated the footnotes to a website: “The endnotes for this book can be found at http://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/liz-cheney/oath-an-honor/9780316572064/ .” Print all 69 pages—you won’t be disappointed.) The timeliness of Oath and Honor: A Memoir and a Warning is an utterly stunning accomplishment driven by Cheney’s passion to defend democracy within our constitutional republic from a Republican Party caught up in Trumpism.
By highlighting the evidence preceding the January 6 th insurrection, Cheney provides both the context for and the forethought evidenced by former President Trump and his accomplices. See in particular Chapter 6: The Secretaries of Defense (53-57) and Chapter 8 : More Sinister Than I was Prepared For (63-66). After reviewing the evidence Cheney presents, the violence against the peaceful transfer of power on January 6th seems very likely a part of a larger premeditated plan.
The actions on January 6 th and shortly thereafter by the majority of her fellow Republicans raise difficult questions: What moved people like Kevin McCarthy to continue to support Donald Trump after initially denouncing him for the violence on January 6th? What motivated Jim Jordan to report to Donald Trump via cell phone in the midst of a violent attack on the Capitol? If fear, then fear of what? How many of the Republicans in the House of Representative were privy insiders to Donald Trump and the insurrection? More than likely, only the DOJ can ferret out these questions.
Cheney’s fate within the Republican Party in some ways reflects Jimmy Carter’s fate within the Democratic Party during the 1980 election. As Christians determined to do that which is right despite the consequences to their political careers, both were abandoned by their parties in their time of need. Cheney closes Oath and Honor with a call to action: “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” (368; underling added). Surely, like Carter, the Lord has a yet greater calling for Cheney.
Enough
Cassidy Hutchinson, the youngest of our three authors, served in various capacities within Trump’s White House. Her role as assistant to Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, in particular, allowed her unprecedented access to the inner workings of those responsible for the violence of January 6th. Hutchinson’s public testimony before the January 6 th Select Committee is well known. Her intensely personal story offers extraordinarily troubling insights into President Trump and those who served him. How troubling? Consider, the actions of Mark Meadows following the insurrection:
Debbie, Mark’s wife… made one last request. ‘Cassidy, Eliza, please don’t light that fireplace anymore. Mark doesn’t need to burn anything else. All of his suits smell like a bonfire, and I can’t keep up with the dry cleaning.’ (236)
What documents did Trump’s Chief of Staff burn and at whose behest?
How can such a talented and intelligent young woman be squandered and dissipated in nothing less than a tortured, profanity and alcohol laced environment? Consider Hutchinson’s conversation with her Mom following January 6th.
Mom is crying. She’s begging me not to move to Florida. …My tone is flat, uninflected. ‘I have to go. I’ve already committed. The boss needs good people around him. The only reason today (January 6th) happened is because we let bad people, crazy people, around him. I need to try to fix—’
‘Cassidy. Listen to yourself.’ …This isn’t you. You know better than this. You can’t fix him. You know you shouldn’t go.”…
I hang up and put my phone on Do Not Disturb. Heavy, loud sobs escape from my chest. I have to go, I have to go… (219)
What parent’s heart is not torn listening to their daughter struggle to continue walking on eggshells in order to fix a tired and embittered old man.
Enoughoffers little indication whether Hutchinson is a Christian. Instead, in the midst of being castoff from Trump world, Hutchinson takes solus in the example of another castoff from the Nixon era, Alexander Butterfield. True, Butterfield’s example is worth emulating. Her account closes with the following scene.
We simultaneously reach out and wrap ourselves in a warm embrace. With The Last of the President’s Men pressed against the small of Alex’s back and my tears beginning to soak his cashmere sweater, I bury my face in his chest.
‘It’s okay,’ he comforts me. ‘It’s okay, you’re home now.’ (356)
And, why should she be drawn to Jesus in the midst of a sea of “Christians” who, like Mark Meadows, consider themselves deeply committed to God, who, nonetheless, are largely responsible for the catastrophic events of January 6th?
Common Themes
Democracies demand both leaders and citizens exercise civic virtue and submit to the rule of law. I’m neither a Republican nor a Democrat, neither a Capitalist nor a Socialist, neither liberal nor conservative. When my doctor recently accused me of becoming a Vegan, I corrected her, “I’m a Christian not a Vegan.” As Christians we live or at least ought to live outside the box of conventional labels. So, how might we understand these two concerns?
The Absence of Civic Virtue
The Apostle Paul explicitly warns Timothy of perilous times to come (2 Timothy 3:1).
3:2 For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,
3:3 unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good,
3:4 traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God,
3:5 having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away! (2 Timothy 3:2-5)
Each of these accounts highlights a remarkable lack of civic virtue among those engaged in and/or enabling the events of January 6th. Against the larger backdrop of moral decline, these snapshots in time remain an indelible part of our history and an important precedent for future events.
The Lawless One
The Apostle Paul also warns about the mystery of lawlessness and the coming lawless one.
2:7 For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only He who now restrains will do so until He is taken out of the way.
2:8 And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will consume with the breath of His mouth and destroy with the brightness of His coming.
2:9 The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders,
2:10 and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved. (2 Thessalonians 2:7-10)
According to all three accounts, Donald Trump holds himself above the law. In effect making himself without law or lawless. His current claims of absolute presidential immunity only reinforce what previous actions have already revealed. If elected President of the United States in 2024 and at the same time convicted of various criminal counts, how will Trump assume office? Will he then be a forerunner of the lawless one yet to come? As brothers and sisters in Christ, do you and I have a greater love of the truth ?
Come Lord Jesus
No American enjoys seeing democracy fail within our constitutional republic. Nevertheless, ethical norms and standards of behavior are plummeting; our borders are crossed illegally; our streets and schools are like supermarkets for all manner of drugs and gun violence; and alternative sexuality esteemed. Although civic virtue and the rule of law have historically distinguished the United States from much of the world, the events of January 6 th should remind all of us as Christians that our nation is not immune from the catastrophic events of the End Times. Again, the Apostle Paul admonishes:
5:4 But you, brethren, are not in darkness, so that this Day should overtake you as a thief.
5:5 You are all sons of light and sons of the day. We are not of the night nor of darkness.
5:6 Therefore let us not sleep, as others do, but let us watch and be sober.
5:7 For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk are drunk at night. (1 Thessalonians 5:4-7)
Will our republic’s decline into darkness herald the Lord’s soon return? As sons of light, do you and I have eyes to see and ears to hear the footsteps of our Messiah’s soon return?
Conclusion
Each of these first-hand accounts are outstanding. As a former airman who served in our nation’s military, Adam Kinzinger approaches the events of the insurrection strategically and tactically. Liz Cheney’s exacting and precise recollection of events reveals a brilliant legal mind and the disciplined tenacity to pursue the evidence wherever it leads. Cassidy Hutchinson’s struggles awaken a sense of parental anger and outrage over innocence lost. Regardless of differences, these three authors laid aside their own personal careers to reveal the truth about the events of January 6 th 2020. Perhaps, civic virtue and the rule of law have a half-life in our democracy after all… Come Lord Jesus!