“Cowards” was trending on Twitter the other day. Without even looking at the related tweets, it was readily apparent that this referred to Republicans, specifically, to House Republicans who had just voted to oust Liz Cheney from their Leadership.

Liz Cheney has as conservative a voting record as any Representative, but she is being cast aside by Republicans because she won’t salve the ego of a bitter, beaten man or pander to the wacko wing of the Republican Party & its wild conspiracy theories.

Non-lunatic Americans, including liberals and progressives, are cheering Cheney for standing up for the Constitution and the Rule of Law — even though she has an abysmal voting record on major policy issues. And they are right to do so.

The day before her impending ouster, Cheney addressed her Republican colleagues (although they were too cowardly to listen to her scolding – they filed out of the House Chamber before she began speaking). She said “Freedom only survives if we protect it. We must speak the truth. The election was not stolen. America has not failed.” These are not remarkable words in the real world. They are truths. Self-evident, as Thomas Jefferson would say.  But in today’s Republican Party, they amount to heresy.

Republican Rep. Adam Kinzinger, a Cheney supporter who has also challenged Trump and his party said: “The attack on the Capitol happened. It cannot be ignored or denied.” Needless to say, Kinzinger is also a pariah in his own party.

Former Arizona Senator Jeff Flake, whose waffles in the past have rivaled those of Susan Collins, recently stated very directly: “It is elementary to have to say this, but we did not become a great nation by believing or espousing nonsense, or by embracing lunacy. And if my party continues down this path, we will not be fit to govern.”

This echoes Lindsey Graham’s sentiments in the 2016 Presidential primaries: “If we nominate Trump, we will get destroyed … and we will deserve it.” 2016 Graham and 2021 Flake are correct. Of course, 2021 Graham has caved to pressure (or something) and now vigorously proclaims Trumpian Orthodoxy.

Yesterday, we were treated to the spectacle of Andrew Clyde of Georgia proclaiming that “if you didn’t know the TV footage was video from January the 6^th, you would actually think that this [below] was a normal tourist visit.”

Loony Louie Gohmert baldly asserted that “There’s no evidence this wasn’t an armed insurrection.” No evidence, that is, except for clear video documentation and direct accounts by police who were defending the Capitol who said guns and other weapons were taken from rioters who had stormed the building.

The specter of the inmates running the Republican asylum is so alarming to more traditional Republicans that Reuters is now reporting that “Over 100 former Republican officials will sign a letter declaring that if the Republican Party does not break with former President Donald Trump and change course, they will back the creation of a third party.” Reuters quotes one of the organizers of this effort, Miles “Anonymous — NOT QAnon” Taylor, as saying, “The Republican Party is broken. It’s time for a resistance of the ‘rationals’ against the ‘radicals.’”

According to the NY Times, the group’s foundational document states: “When in our democratic republic, forces of conspiracy, division, and despotism arise, it is the patriotic duty of citizens to act collectively in defense of liberty and justice.” These are not words that lifelong Republicans use lightly.

Before the vote to oust her, Liz Cheney declared that, “History is watching us. We must decide whether we are going to choose truth and fidelity to the Constitution or join Trump’s crusade to delegitimize and undo the legal outcome of the 2020 election, with all the consequences that might have.” House Republicans have made their choice – and it was not for truth and fidelity to the Constitution.

After the (non-recorded) vote, Cheney said, “We must go forward based on truth. We cannot both embrace the Big Lie and embrace the Constitution … I will do everything I can to ensure that the Former President never again gets anywhere near the Oval Office. We’ve seen the danger.”  Kinzinger similarly declared: “Truth cannot coexist with lies. Truth cannot coexist with falsehoods.”

There is a big schism in the Republican Party. The Kool-Aid drinking cult members will follow Trump to the ends of the earth (which they believe to be flat – so it does have “ends”), even if they go down in flames in the process. A more rational minority — which to be sure, enabled and used Trump to gain tax cuts for their wealthy supporters and the appointment of unqualified, highly conservative judges throughout the federal court system – is finally fighting back after being marginalized for 4+ years.

If the Republican Party had a soul, these two groups would be fighting for it. If the Republican Party is destroyed in the fight, please pass the popcorn as we watch.