Congressional hearings are no small matter. Depending upon how one conducts oneself, a person can come off smelling like a rose or end up tanking their cause altogether. Soon, Ivanka Trump must testify before the January 6 Committee as to the events that took place in the White House on January 6. A government relations strategist who has seen people rise or fall during congressional hearings has suggestions for her. NBC News via Raw Story:
“Over the years, [I’ve] watched prominent people hauled before a congressional committee who got it right, and more than a few who got it terribly wrong,” wrote Nass. “Those who performed poorly often ducked direct questions, gave vague answers, made excuses for mistakes, apologized grudgingly — or not at all — for misbehavior, challenged congressional authority, acted adversarial or even hostile and otherwise embarrassed and disgraced themselves.”
[John] Nass recently represented conservative activist Dustin Stockton, who helped lead the “March for Trump” bus tour, and was subpoenaed by the House select committee, and he’s encouraged that Ivanka Trump is reportedly talking with the panel to voluntarily appear.
“Testifying before Congress, especially in controversial cases, is a uniquely challenging exercise in part because it’s a form of show business — and it’s the lawmakers who get to write the script,” Nass wrote. “Some senators may take more time asking questions than listening to answers. They often appear more interested in driving home a political point than in learning anything new, relevant or valuable from the person being questioned.”
Nass said Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and the so-called “Pharma Bro” Martin Shkreli were two of the biggest flops he’s seen appear before a congressional panel, but he praised the late rocker Frank Zappa’s 1985 appearance before a Senate committee looking into profanity in music recordings.
“The senators likely expected to confront a fire-breathing devil,” Nass wrote. “But Zappa appeared in a suit, his stringy hair cropped and his signature fierce mustache trimmed. More important, he acknowledged the seriousness of the issue of unchecked obscenities and offered thoughtful solutions for posting album lyrics on covers for parents to review. By the time Zappa completed his testimony, his horns had been replaced with a halo.” […]
“Check your arrogance at the door, along with your disdain for a particular party,” he wrote. “Commend the hearings for supporting a suitable thesis and purpose. Comport yourself like an eighth grader called to the principal’s office. Remain fully engaged and responsive to any and all questions. Show respect and humility without exception. Speak with courtesy and deference. If Frank Zappa could do it, I reasoned, so can a Republican operative.”
What Ivanka does with the J6 Committee could be pivotal in how she is perceived the rest of her life. If she cooperates and tells the truth, it may not make Daddy look especially great, but it would liberate Ivanka from the scorn that she is likely to endure the rest of her life if she botches it with her testimony and appears to be merely her father’s shill, as usual.
Added to the pressure she faces on what to tell the Committee is the deposition she’s facing in New York state, with respect to the attorney general’s investigation. She’s expected to plead the 5th Amendment copiously, as her brother Eric did when deposed in 2020 in conjunction with the investigation o the Trump Organization. If Ivanka does the same thing and stonewalls the J6 Committee, both, she’s likely finished in public life.
But, if she’s truthful with the J6 Committee, even if she pleads the 5th to the attorney general’s office, she’ll have the advantage of looking like she’s willing to help the American people to a large extent and only conceal information in order to protect her father’s business. It’s a thin line to walk, but it’s a sympathetic one, if she can manage to do it.
Maybe she’s waiting to see how badly she fares with the attorney general and what the public reaction is before she decides what to do about the J6 Committee. Her testimony before the Committee may be her chance to redeem and rebrand herself and she’s got to have enough sense to realize that. Or, maybe just staying in Daddy’s will is everything. We’ll see.
Frank Zappa was considerably more erudite than anyone in the music business. Rage Against the Machine are the only ones who have come close. Zappa casts such shade on princess that were she a tree she would wither and die in short order. Yes, princess could learn from him but I am sure she thinks she knows it all and can learn nothing from anyone but daddy. I hope the committee makes her realize regardless of whatever show she puts on for the audience she is not the princess she thinks she is and is in a shit load of trouble. If the committee swallows whatever show she puts on they might as well disband especially since they can hammer home how much prison time she could be looking at.
Just a reminder, but the late John Denver was as erudite, especially during the PMRC hearings. And Denver, being the clean-cut guy, was expected to side with the PMRC but he condemned the hearings as promoting censorship (“That which is denied becomes that which is most desired, and that which is hidden becomes that which is most interesting. Consequently, a great deal of time and energy is spent trying to get at what is being kept from you.”) and even compared the PMRC’s efforts with Nazi book burnings of the 1930s.