Rep. Reschenthaler’s memory

U.S. Rep. Guy Reschenthaler, R-Pa. Photo: Associated Press

Reported opinion

By David Loomis

INDIANA – U.S. Rep. Guy Reschenthaler, R-Pa., represents most of Indiana County in Congress. In 2022, he won re-election without opposition to a third term.

He also represents Donald Trump. Mr. Reschenthaler posts a 100 percent average score in support of the insurrectionist-in-chief. As a Trump toady, Mr. Reschenthaler continues to carry water for the disgraced former president.

For example, the Feb. 8 special counsel’s report on Joe Biden’s handling of classified documents included a gratuitous ad hominem swipe at the president’s memory. Mr. Reschenthaler promptly called on the president to resign, echoing his classified-documents mishandler-in-chief, Mr. Trump.

“Joe Biden lacks the mental fitness to be president of the United States,” Mr. Reschenthaler argued.

Mr. Reschenthaler failed to note an important distinction between investigations of Mr. Biden’s documents and of Mr. Trump’s: Mr. Biden cooperated and returned his documents;  Mr. Trump did not. When asked, Mr. Trump resorted to a coverup that drew criminal indictment.

Perhaps Mr. Reschenthaler’s memory failed him, despite credentials as a former attorney, district judge and Navy judge advocate general.

 

IT WOULDN’T BE his first such memory lapse.

On Dec. 31, 2020, Mr. Reschenthaler, among other Pennsylvania Republicans, said he would oppose certifying the commonwealth’s electors when Congress convened to count the 2020 presidential electoral votes on Jan. 6, 2021. He claimed illegalities in the counting of mail-in ballots — without evidence.

Mr. Reschenthaler also signed on to a lawsuit filed by the Texas attorney general that sought to toss 2020 presidential election ballots in key swing states, including Pennsylvania’s. The U.S. Supreme Court summarily dismissed the case.

 

IN THE PROCESS, Mr. Reschenthaler evidently forgot something.

As required by the U.S. Constitution, Article VI, before taking office, Rep. Reschenthaler swore “that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter. So help me God.”

In a February 2021 interview, Mr. Reschenthaler downplayed his vote to toss the 2020 presidential election votes of 7 million Pennsylvanians.

“That was a symbolic vote,” he said. “Everybody knew that vote was not going to overturn the results of the election.”

Mr. Reschenthaler forgets. He forgot his oath of office. He lacks moral fitness to serve in Congress.

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David Loomis, Ph.D., emeritus professor of journalism at Indiana University of Pennsylvania, is editor of The HawkEye.

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