This Thanksgiving we take stock of US politics and look at some perhaps surprising figures we should be saying thank you to in 2021.

Mike Pence

The more we know how many around Trump were involved in the attempt to steal the election the more we need to acknowledge what former president Mike Pence did in standing firm. What the congressional inquiry is turning up is that from Steve Bannon to Mark Meadows, from as yet unknown members of Congress to leading media figures, the fix was in to have Pence refuse to ratify. It is to his eternal credit he would not do so.

William Barr

Formerly Donald J. Trump’s Attorney General, William Barr stood fast despite being the president's lackey. When Trump tried to get Barr to announce a fake voter fraud investigation Barr refused and walked away with his head high.

Liz Cheney

Hard-right winger, daughter of one of the most despised figures in America, Dick Cheney, who led the charge to start the disastrous war in Iraq, Liz Cheney also came through when it mattered most. Her direct and courageous challenge to Trump and his lackeys may cost her her seat in Wyoming where many believe Trump, not God, made the world. She can sleep easy knowing she stood for the Republic not the treasonous effort to undermine it.

Kevin McCarthy

Democrats rejoice. The likely next House speaker is such a clown and buffoon that he is bound to make a hash of it if elected House Speaker in 2022. Kevin McCarthy had outdone everyone in ass-kissing Donald Trump and deserves his opportunity to have the GOP disappear up their own fundament in 2022.

Chris Wallace

Chris Wallace is a lonely outpost at Fox News as the only clear-headed fair-minded reporter in a network that rivals the former Soviet propaganda newspaper, Pravda, for mistruths and vendettas.

Wallace keeps a level eye on both parties and shows no fear or failure in the cauldron of calamity that Fox stirs up. He is a fitting person to finish off our top five for 2022.