Joseph Sabino Mistick: American common ground found in Jan. 6 hearings

Just when we thought Democrats and Republicans had nothing in common, last Tuesday’s Jan. 6 congressional hearing showed there are leaders in both parties who still believe in the rule of law, faithfulness to our Constitution and respect for their oaths of office.

We learned it was good solid Republicans in critical states who saved the United States from an attempted coup.

These were Republicans who had supported Donald Trump, campaigned for him and voted for him. Some said they might even vote for him again. But they refused to commit crimes for him.

As Chairman Bennie Thompson described it, “A handful of election officials in several key states stood between Donald Trump and the upending of American democracy.”

Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, a Republican, testified about a call during which Trump told him to “find 11,780” votes — just enough to reverse Joe Biden’s victory in Georgia. Raffensperger refused and followed the law.

“The numbers don’t lie. At the end of the day, President Trump came up short,” Raffensperger said. And Raffensberger recently was reelected despite Trump’s opposition.

Arizona Speaker of the House Rusty Bowers, also a Republican and a Trump supporter, described Trump’s efforts to get him to replace his state’s valid electors with bogus electors who would vote for Trump. Bowers refused.

“I said, ‘Look, you’re asking me to do something that is counter to my oath,’ ” he testified.

The conspiracy to steal the election by naming fake electors spread to Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, New Mexico, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. It failed when Republican leaders refused Trump’s demands to disenfranchise their states’ voters by changing the result of fair elections.

For Democrats, these Republicans all are unlikely heroes. But they did the right thing when it counted, and it has not been easy for them. They and their families continue to have their lives threatened by anonymous cowards.

Committee member Adam Kinzinger, Republican from Illinois, released a letter last week that recently was sent to his wife. The writer threatened to execute Kinzinger and promised that his wife and their 5-month-old son “would be joining” him.

What does it say about Donald Trump when these are his supporters and he does nothing to stop them?

It would be hard to find a more conservative or more Republican family than committee vice chairman Liz Cheney’s family in Wyoming. She is facing a very tough reelection campaign because she stood up for this investigation.

Cheney and her father, Dick Cheney, vice president under George W. Bush, have been reviled by Democrats for years. But people all over the country have been amazed at her political courage since these hearings began.

At the start of these hearings, Cheney said, “I say this to my Republican colleagues who are defending the indefensible: There will come a day when Donald Trump is gone, but your dishonor will remain.”

These hearings have suggested that there still may be some common ground for Democrats and Republicans. It is the common American ground of the law and our Constitution. With any luck, we may yet get back to hating each other’s politics without hating each other.