Fulcher voted to help end American democracy. He hasn’t had the character to own up

Congressman Russ Fulcher, R-Idaho, had better hope that the author F. Scott Fitzgerald was wrong when he wrote “There are no second acts in American lives.”

Because, so far, this Idaho Republican’s performance on Jan. 6, 2021, has purchased a sorry legacy. Opportunity after opportunity to redeem himself have been squandered.

On June 13, the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection presented former Attorney General Bill Barr, former President Donald Trump’s campaign manager Bill Stepien and even first daughter Ivanka Trump, who testified that Trump knew the “big lie” was a big lie that had been debunked by credible investigators and five dozen court rulings.

But he proceeded to find sycophantic sources — such as former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani and lawyer John Eastman — who would do his bidding.

Fulcher kept quiet.

On June 16, the House panel revealed how Trump pressured his own vice president, Mike Pence, toward an unconstitutional attempt to subvert the election during the ceremonial certification of the Electoral College results. When Pence refused, Trump issued an inflammatory tweet that put the vice president’s life at risk while a deadly mob stormed the Capitol, chanting “Hang Mike Pence.” That mob came within 40 feet of finding its intended target.

Concluded retired federal Judge J. Michael Luttig, a conservative icon: Trump and his followers pose a “clear and present danger to American democracy.”

Fulcher was mum about that, too.

On June 21, elected Republicans — Arizona House Speaker Rusty Bowers and Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger — revealed how Trump tried to pressure them into overturning President Joe Biden’s victory in their states.

“It is a tenet of my faith that the Constitution is divinely inspired,” Bowers said. “I would not do it.”

Still, Fulcher had nothing to say.

On June 23, Trump’s acting attorney general, Jeffrey Rosen, deputy Attorney General Richard Donoghue and Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Legal Counsel Steven Engel outlined how the entire Department of Justice leadership threatened to resign in the face of Trump’s plan to install a compliant Jeff Clark as the nation’s top lawyer because he was willing to help overturn the election.

At one point, Trump told Donoghue: “Just say it was corrupt and leave the rest to me and the Republican congressmen.”

At the hearing’s end, the panel disclosed that House Republican Reps. Matt Gaetz of Florida, Mo Brooks of Alabama, Andy Biggs of Arizona, Louie Gohmert of Texas and Scott Perry of Pennsylvania sought a pardon from Trump for their role in the scheme.

“The only reason I know to ask for a pardon (is) because you think you’ve committed a crime,” said Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill.

Nothing in any of that compelled Fulcher to issue a comment.

And then came Tuesday, when an eyewitness to Trump’s West Wing operation — Cassidy Hutchinson, former aide to White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows — revealed an emotionally volatile former president who knew he was egging on an armed insurrection of the Capitol and only Secret Service intervention stopped him from personally leading it.

Back at the White House, Trump did nothing to stop the violence and when told that Pence was in danger, the former president said, “Mike deserves it.”

As the hearing closed, Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., accused Team Trump of witness intimidation.

And what did you hear from Fulcher?

Nothing.

None of which distinguishes Fulcher from his Idaho colleagues, Rep. Mike Simpson and Sens. Mike Crapo and Jim Risch. But they were not complicit in the Jan. 6 attempted coup. Simpson, Crapo and Risch stood by the Constitution that day and voted to certify Biden as the next president of the United States.

Only Fulcher was among the 147 Republicans who did Trump’s bidding that day.

Fulcher began his morning with an appearance on “Fox and Friends,” outlining his intentions.

Later, Fulcher posted on social media a picture of himself signing his objection to Biden’s electors.

Nothing deterred him — not even the desecration of the Capitol and the five lives it took.

As soon as order was restored, Fulcher went right back into the House and voted to overturn Biden’s victories in Arizona and Pennsylvania.

A string of Republican witnesses courageous enough to speak truth to the American people has brought us to this question:

• Was the Idaho congressman one of Trump’s useful idiots who was gullible enough to fall for the former president’s deception?

• Or did he knowingly play his role in a plot that came within 40 feet of destroying America’s fragile democracy?

At the very least, Fulcher owes the people who sent him to Washington, D.C., an explanation.

We have come to a moment of conscience. Does Fulcher have one? — M.T.

Marty Trillhaase is the opinion page editor of the Lewiston Tribune, where this editorial originally appeared.