In reaction to Donald Trump’s post-election behavior leading up to January 6, 2021, there was an intense flurry of speeches and angry statements by Republicans. One of the most dramatic Republican actions was Brian Fitzpatrick’s proposed censure of Trump. In submitting this censure document, he was joined by six other Republican members of Congress.
What Congressman Fitzpatrick wrote is powerful and accurate. It needs to be read and reread by PA First District voters on a regular basis over the course of the coming year. Fitzpatrick’s censure document makes it clear that Trump should be defeated by a huge margin, if he proves to be the Republican nominee and remains on state ballots.
And Congressman Fitzpatrick should be leading the charge against an unrepentant Trump.
Fitzpatrick did not submit the censure frivolously or carelessly. He made the sober assessment that Trump was not fit to be President. Based on what he wrote (with six Republicans joining him), he will violate every sense of dignity, respect, honesty, judgment, and trust that voters have placed in him in the past, if he backs Donald Trump candidacy in 2024,
Censure documents follow a common format. There is a list of actions that are taken as facts beginning with the word “Whereas.” After the full list is completed, there is a “therefore,” followed by a list of the consequences for each of those unethical, illegal, immoral, or oath-violating acts.
Samples of the wording of Fitzpatrick’s censure of Trump:
Censuring and condemning President Donald J. Trump for trying to unlawfully overturn the 2020 Presidential election and violating his oath of office on January 6, 2021.
Whereas in all of this, President Trump gravely endangered the security of the United States and its institutions of Government;
Whereas he threatened the integrity of the democratic system, interfered with the peaceful transition of power, and imperiled a coequal branch of Government; and
Whereas he thereby betrayed his trust as President, to the manifest injury of the people of the United States: Now, therefore, be it Resolved…
The main consequences (following the ‘therefore’) listed in the censure document are:
(therefore) Congress publicly states that President Donald J. Trump has acted in a manner grossly incompatible with self-governance and the rule of law;
(therefore) Censures and condemns President Donald J. Trump for trying to unlawfully overturn the 2020 Presidential election and violating his oath of office on January 6, 2021; and…
A link to the censure can be found here. Read it once. Read it again. The censure is so definitive and so accurate that it cannot disappear into the mists of history as the 2024 election approaches. Congressman Fitzpatrick needs to serve the voters of PA First District with integrity, and that means he should actively discourage voters from re-electing the man who, in a most fundamental and dramatic way and in Fitzpatrick’s own words, violated his solemn oath of office.
