Okay, Class, let’s start with some facts:

One plus one equals two.

During his four years as President, Donald Trump made 30,573 false or misleading claims according to the Washington Post Fact Checker.

In the 2020 U.S. Presidential Election, Joe Biden had 81,268,924 popular votes: President Donald Trump had 74,216,184 popular votes; Biden had 306 Electoral College votes; Trump had 232 Electoral College votes.

The 2020 Presidential Election was the most secure election in history with the highest turnout.

On Jan. 2, during an hour-long conference call, then President Donald Trump pressured Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensberger to change the state’s election vote totals from the 2020 U.S. Presidential Election On Jan. 6, Donald Trump told a crowd at the “Save America” rally in Washington, “If you don’t fight like hell, you’re not going to have a country anymore.”

During the violent insurrection that followed, five people were killed, dozens were injured and more than 400 people have been charged with federal crimes. Several of the insurrectionists chanted “Hang Mike Pence” because the Vice President had refused Trump’s demand to try to block the confirmation of the next President of the United States.

On Jan. 13, the House of Representatives adopted one article of impeachment against Trump of “incitement of insurrection,” alleging that Trump incited the Jan. 6 storming of the Capitol. Ten Republican representatives voted for impeachment, the most ever pro-impeachment votes ever from a president’s party.

After the 2020 US Presidential election, the campaign for incumbent President Trump and others filed and lost at least 86 lawsuits contesting election processes, vote counting or the vote certification process in multiple states, including Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.

So, those are the facts. Now consider what national and state Republican leaders have done after the most secure Presidential Election in history and in the wake of the horrendous Trump-instigated Capitol invasion.

Rep. Kevin McCarthy and Sens. Ted Cruz and Lindsay Graham have each made pilgrimages to Trump’s retreat at Mar-a-Lago to have their photos taken with the man who instigated his followers to try to overturn our democracy.

As of March 24, legislators have introduced 361 bills with voting restriction provisions in 47 states. Many of these restrictions have been aimed squarely at reducing the vote in urban areas with large minority populations. They have reacted to the painful truth that large election turnouts, especially of minority voters, hurts Republicans. They’ve shed their principles in their quest for power.

A few brave Republicans have stood up to Trump and the Big Lie that the election was stolen. Rep. Liz Cheney has written that, “Trump is seeking to unravel elements of our constitutional structures that make democracy work, confidence in the result of elections and the rule of law. No other American president has ever done that.” She has warned her party to steer away from the dangers of an “anti-democratic Trump cult of personality.”

Sadly, Cheney has paid the price for her willingness to tell the truth. On May 12, the cowardly members of the Republican Congress voted to oust Cheney from her top leadership position. On that same day, by the way, Kevin McCarthy said with a straight face that, ”No one is questioning the legitimacy of the election.”

Time out: Trump, the party’s chosen leader, has done nothing but question the legitimacy of the election ever since the results came in. You can’t make this stuff up.

Speaking of making stuff up — Rep Andrew Clyde of Georgia referred to the insurrection as a “normal tourist visit.” I wonder what Clyde tells his kids — or anyone else — when they ask him what he meant by that.

Former Republican Congressman Joe Walsh echoes Liz Cheney’s thoughts. “The Republican Party is now an authority-embracing cult. Every Republican who has spread the Big Lie about the ’stolen’ election has blood on his hands. Every one. It’s no longer Republican versus Democrat. It’s now people who can acknowledge the truth versus people who can’t.”

Utah Sen. Mitt Romney, who has twice voted to impeach Trump, has also been ostracized by his own party for being disloyal to their idol. Romney got lustily booed at the Utah GOP convention.

Historian Jon Meacham, author of several presidential biographies, notes that, “The Republican Party has descended into fantasy, conspiracy and falsehoods.”

Let’s tell the sad truth: The Republican Party has become the party of Trump. Some moderate Republicans, such as Maine Sen. Susan Collins, try to claim that the Republican Party is a big tent party. That’s not the case. If you don’t demonstrate undying loyalty to Trump you will be kicked out of the tent. Republicans who dare say something negative about the man who tried to overthrow our democracy will be trashed by Trump and thereby risk being primaried by political grifters who are happy to hitch their wagon to a con man.

The very future of our American democracy is at stake. Until and unless enough Republican leaders have the courage to sideline Trump and Trumpism and enough Trump supporters open their eyes, we face a dark and possibly disastrous future. One plus one still equals two, right? The truth still matters… I hope.

David Treadwell, A Brunswick writer, welcomes commentary and suggestions for future “Just a Little Old” columns. dtreadw575@aol.com.