Set politics aside and look at the Jan. 6 facts. Honestly, how does that make you feel?

Forget party. Forget politics. I ask you, Republican or Democrat or none of the above, to sit with what we know, truly know, happened on Jan. 6, 2021, and decide whether you can live with it. And what, if any, further consequences are called for.

Former President Donald Trump has long said he’s been denied the chance to tell his side of the story about Jan. 6 and his efforts to remain in office even though he lost the 2020 presidential election. Now, thanks to a 9-0 vote by the House committee investigating the attack on the U.S. Capitol to authorize its chairman to subpoena him to appear before the panel, he has his chance.

He should take it and answer under oath the panel’s questions about his role in trying to overturn the election. It’s highly unlikely he will do so, despite at least seven instances in U.S. history in which former presidents did testify, including in response to a subpoena.

That’s too bad, because his is the most important voice in the events which we haven’t heard — haven’t heard under oath, that is. For more than a year, the committee has held hearing after hearing full of details about Trump’s efforts to remain in office, beginning long before the election and extending well after the Jan. 6 attacks. Almost all the testimony the committee showcased during the hearings came directly from Republicans or members of Trump’s own campaign and White House staffs, including members of his inner circle and family members.

Many have not responded. Steve Bannon has been convicted of contempt of Congress, and is awaiting sentencing. More than 30 witnesses pleaded Fifth Amendment protections against implicating themselves in a crime.

So what do we already know about Jan. 6?

Trump insiders told supporters (recorded on video) ahead of the election that he would declare victory no matter what the vote totals were. Bannon explained ahead of time that because Democrats vote more often by mail, the lag in counting those votes would give Trump an opportunity to declare victory before the mail-in votes could be counted.

Trump confidante Roger Stone was more direct. “I’m the president. F--- you,” Stone said in remarks captured on video just ahead of the election, imagining Trump’s remarks after declaring a victory whatever the votes said. “You’re not stealing Florida; you’re not stealing Ohio. I’m challenging all of it, and the judges we’re going to are judges I appointed.”

We also know that Trump did exactly as planned. Late on election night, with millions of votes still to count, he told the nation that he had won, and called on all vote-counting to be halted.

Meanwhile, as his legal team’s efforts to fight the election results failed by the dozens in court, Trump turned his attention to the certification of the electoral votes by Congress, which would take place on Jan. 6.

Footage played Thursday at the committee’s final hearing of the year showed Trump leaning heavily on then-Vice President Mike Pence ahead of the vote, asking him to reject the state’s slates of electoral votes.

When that effort appeared to fail — Pence refused to bend — Trump told a crowd to head to the Capitol, and then tried his best to meet them there but was denied (after an angry altercation in the presidential limo) by the Secret Service.

When the crowd arrived, hundreds broke into the U.S. Capitol, attacking Capitol Police, smearing feces on the walls and chanting that they’d hang Pence and calling for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to come out from hiding.

Lawmakers barricaded themselves behind closed doors and eventually fled as the mob broke through.

New footage aired Thursday showed Pelosi, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and other congressional leaders pleading with national security officials and area governors to send troops to establish order at the Capitol.

When McConnell and Pelosi reopened Congress that evening to finish the nation’s business of certifying the results, Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri and Sen. Roger Marshall of Kansas joined six other senators in voting to object to electors. In the House, 139 members voted against certifying the vote. To their lasting shame, Reps. Sam Graves, Vicky Hartzler, Billy Long, Blaine Luetkemeyer and Jason Smith in Missouri voted against certification, and so did Reps. Ron Estes, Jake LaTurner and Tracey Mann in Kansas.

These are facts that have been demonstrated by video, in sworn testimony by Trump insiders, and yet so many Republicans have refused to confront them. Some have argued that other concerns — such as rising inflation — should take precedence. But for a moment, let’s just put aside the nation’s other challenges, its fast-approaching midterm elections, and simply sit with the facts as we understand them.

We all owe it to ourselves, and each other, to answer a single question and its corollary: Are we OK with what happened that day in Washington? If we aren’t, how should the nation hold Trump accountable for his role in the mess?

Michael Lindenberger is editorial page editor of The Kansas City Star, and a former Washington correspondent and long-time national legal affairs writer. He and three colleagues in Texas were awarded the Pulitzer Prize for editorial writing in 2022.