ROBERT ORR: Duty, Honor, Country. MacArthur's words for Senate to heed

Would it be that the spirit of this American military legend could make his way to the lectern in the U.S. Senate to address those assembled to hear the impeachment case against ex-President Donald J. Trump, charged with inciting an insurrection against the very government he had taken an oath to defend.

What would the old soldier, having honorably served this country for so many years, tell those gathered there? Would they listen to his words, particularly those Republican senators whose craven reticence to hold Trump accountable for anything, has most of them saying they’ve already made up their minds to acquit?

Before contemplating what MacArthur would have said, let’s consider what the un-contradicted evidence shows. The powerful presentation of video clips of the mob assault on the U.S. Capitol from Jan. 6 reinforce what the American public and the world saw on that day – only in more brutal detail. What happened on Jan. 6 -- the tragic loss of life, threat to hundreds of innocent people and literal desecration of this symbol of American democracy -- is irrefutable. Those senators, all of whom were there, know exactly what transpired.

There can also be no question as to why that mob was present in Washington, D.C. on Jan. 6. For months before and after the November election, Trump stoked the fires of his followers’ anger. Ultimately, post Nov. 3, Trump and his supporters loudly and constantly proclaimed, falsely, that massive election fraud had taken place. That Trump had actually won by a landslide. That the presidency had been stolen from Trump.

All those people who traveled to Washington on January 6, literally from all over the country, were aided, abetted and driven by Trump’s rhetoric. Whether as part of the Republican Party organization, the Trump campaign or third party groups like the Proud Boys, they came to Washington because Trump wanted them to come.

Finally, it is un-contradicted that Trump was intent on having the certification of the electoral votes, pursuant to Constitutional mandate, disrupted and stopped.

First, he tried unsuccessfully through feckless litigation to get the courts to stop it. Then he tried to strong arm his loyal second in command Vice President Mike Pence to ignore his constitutional duty and instead reject the certification of electoral votes.

Those strategies failed. Trump was left with one viable vehicle to stop the electoral vote certification – urging on the mass of Trump followers gathered only blocks from the U.S. Capitol to disrupt the constitutional process as it was proceeding. We know what happened next and what Trump said to send that angry mob to assault the Capitol.

With this irrefutable evidence confronting them, Republican senators have fallen back on claiming that it’s unconstitutional to convict a former President for impeachable offenses. Is there any doubt that those Republican senators wrapping themselves in a dubious, unsupported constitutional theory would immediately change their position if this was the impeachment of a Democrat?

Their reliance on an unsupported constitutional theory to avoid facing the compelling weight of the case against Trump, is embarrassing at best.

So, what would MacArthur say to these senators?

“Duty, Honor, Country. Senators Thom Tillis, Richard Burr, Tim Scott. Senators Mitch McConnell, Marco Rubio, Lindsey Graham. All of you. Do your duty. Serve with honor. Put country first.

As members of Congress you have the power to declare war and thus send those young women and men who form the long gray line into harm’s way. You expect them to serve this country with adherence to duty and with honor. Should they not expect you to be held to the same high standard and fulfill your constitutional duties in this impeachment trial?”

MacArthur’s remarks to the Corp that day in 1962 included this admonition: “Duty, Honor, Country. The Long Gray Line has never failed us. Were you to do so, a million ghosts in olive drab, in brown khaki, in blue and gray, would rise from their white crosses, thundering those magic words: Duty, Honor, Country.”

So, members of the United States Senate, I offer this question: Will Duty, Honor, Country be your standard of conduct in this impeachment trial – or will you fail us?