Recollect now the misty, water colored memories of the way things were back in July when the January 6 Committee was just getting underway. Kevin McCarthy wanted nothing to do with it. He put his foot down, by golly and boycotted the Committee. As the time a number of people shook their heads and I would venture to guess that at least Adam Schiff and Nancy Pelosi laughed out loud and said, “Shhhh, let him do it! Don’t say a word!”
McCarthy’s plan with the boycott was apparently a means of proving that the Committee was not bipartisan. He thought that that was going to be a very damning thing. What McCarthy didn’t realize, incredibly, is that by having no one from his caucus on the Committee (and certainly the exiled Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger no longer qualify as members of the Republican caucus) that he was losing the inside track on the Committee. The Committee, in essence, was free to roll along and do what it would. In fact, if McCarthy had waved a scepter at Bennie Thompson and proclaimed “Do what thou wilt,” he could not have gotten that idea conveyed any more clearly.
Kyle Cheney at Politico apparently sees this situation the same way. Here’s his take on it and I couldn’t have said it better myself. McCarthy really is not smart enough or clever enough to ever be House speaker. But you knew that. And his lack of savvy works to the Democrats’ advantage. Mitch McConnell would never have committed this level of blunder.
AND WHAT MCCARTHY DIDN’T LEARN — It’s an immutable law on Capitol Hill: If you have power, wield it. If you don’t, do whatever it takes to be in the room with those who do.
House GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy violated that principle on July 21 when he boycotted the Jan. 6 select committee. It turns out, that was the most important development of the entire investigation.
Since then, the members of the panel have operated with a harmony — and secrecy — rarely seen in modern Washington. They’ve interviewed 300 witnesses, only about 50 of whom have been publicly identified. They’ve blanketed Donald Trump’s allies with subpoenas, referred three key witnesses for contempt of Congress prosecution and exerted pressure like few committees ever have. By all accounts, they’re making inroads into the depths of the Trump White House and unearthing evidence that will make that dark day look even darker.
All, we might add, without fear of a hostile minority raising procedural objections or acting as spies and defenders for Trump-world.
“We will tell this story to the American people. But we won’t do it piecemeal,” Chair Bennie Thompson said this week. “We’ll do it when we can tell the story all at once, from start to finish.”
Thompson wouldn’t have that luxury if the committee had an opposition building a counternarrative from within.
McCarthy’s decision was understandable at the time. He was reacting to Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s decision to veto two of his five picks — the Jims: Jordan and Banks. Both men, Pelosi determined, were too intertwined with Trump to be credible investigators, justifying what she described as an “unprecedented” decision to block them from the committee. The revelation this week that Jordan forwarded a legal strategy for overturning the election to Trump’s chief of staff in the run-up to Jan. 6 has bolstered Democrats’ confidence in Pelosi’s decision.
In deciding to boycott, McCarthy rejected the lessons of the 2019 Trump impeachment, when Republicans used their access to evidence and witnesses to push back on the probe and build a defense.
And so the Good Ship J6 Committee sails on unencumbered.
See, Kevin, it’s this way. Even if you’re not all that smart, if you’re teachable, you can do okay. And you’re neither, apparently. You failed to learn from the first impeachment.
If, at the end of the day, when all is said and done, it turns out that the J6 Committee got its work all done and wrapped up with a bow and met its November, 2022 deadline with plenty of room to spare, it may be because Kevin McCarthy is such a political doofus. Thanks, Kevin. We mean it. We appreciate the help.
This failure on such a large scale WILL be because ALL the J6 members are focused on a complete record and charges to the guilty parties and their god of Orange … by the time they reach into the Lizards Lair with the final blow to Trump’s self-above-all-else, run-away Idolatry, the scene will be one of the most beautiful swan dives into a blackness that trump will not be able to handle … the use of handcuffs and a large dose of sedative, may be needed to prevent Trump’s implosion from injuring surrounding Marshalls and innocent bystanders …
The whole key IS the secrecy … Trump’s Hench people are not only fading from his presence but, the guilty parties are finding their forage into the Capitol building was absolutely the worst way to retire and live in peace with Nature … the clang and noise levels in a working prison are enormous … if there are, say 1000 prisoners in your prison, and you expect 3 meals a day, what quality of food would you expect from the kitchen, making 3000, meals a day, 7 days a week? Multiply that by larger prison populations and the problems for the people used to fast food whenever you feel like it and even those that live in fancy houses with servants and house keepers, having someone to go to the market for your favorite meal fixings … the biggest let down, is money and privilege’s, no longer exist …
Let’s just say this WILL be a proper learning experience even though the sentences will probably be less than we feel needed …