Don’t watch what they say. Watch what they do Rachel Maddow
Look, whether the January 6th public hearings commence in early or middle spring, or early summer, they’re going to be riveting. After all, we’ve already had a little taste, the testimony of 6 Capitol Hill and DC police officers in the only public hearing to date. But Bennie Thompson and Liz Cheney keep finding ways to keep the teasers coming, with well timed releases.
To my somewhat faulty memory, their official name is something like The House Permanent Committee To Investigate January 6th. But from day one, first Democratic Chair Bennie Thompson, and later co-Chair Liz Cheney made it clear that they were not obsessed with the Capitol riot. They were also going to investigate backwards from the riot, to the actions that provided the underlying causes for the riot in the first place. And they’ve been true to their word.
The real indicator if their intentions are the subpoenas that they keep pumping out. They are keying on Trump acolytes like Boris Epshteyn, Peter Navarro, Rudy Giuliani, and others that were in on the inside planning in the frenetic days following Trump’s loss. And now they’re subpoenaing members of the fraudulent alternate slates that 7 GOP states put forward in states Trump lost to Biden. They are digging into the roots of the Trump response that directly led to the insurrection.
From where I’m sitting, this is why the start of the public hearings may be delayed, and why they may be a wee different from what you expect. Look, the basics of the Capitol riot are horrendous, and also well documented. And anybody who isn’t a card carrying Trombie is horrified by the spectacle, and the actual threat to democracy. And the committee will hammer that home with brutal efficiency.
But from where I’m sitting, and what I’m seeing coming out of the committee with the latest subpoenas, the committee has a deeper target in mind. I think that the J6 committee’s goal isn’t to expose what happened during the riot, hell, that’s already well known and documented. I think that what the J6 committee wants to use these hearings for is to drive a wooden stake through the heart of The Big Lie.
It can’t be anything else. They have gone too far back, and talked to too many insiders who were present for the planning of the Stop The Steal speech on January 6th for it to be anything else. They are going to use these hearings to conclusively show that not only Trump, but also his closest allies, were fully aware that Trump lost the election cleanly, and concocted an attempted coup to stop Biden from being inaugurated. The public hearings will be an education on democracy and political criminality just in time for the 2022 elections.
I’m sorry, but I can’t see it any other way. Doing nothing more than replaying video of the riot is flogging a dead horse. And if that’s what the committee wants to do, why keep investigating so far back? I think that the committee wants to totally demolish The Big Lie, and tie Trump to an attempted coup to stay in power. We’ll see what happens soon enough.
wow…7 paragraphs. weak
True, Murf…these are far from stupid people who are on this committee. The “they’re going to get away with it!” crowd has failed to understand one deep truth: the dummies attacked more than just people they didn’t like in J6. They attacked an institution, a complex, solid structure that will do anything and everything to preseve its life. When you level THAT much threat at it, you’d best finish it off on your first shot, whatever your cause. Otherwise, it WILL crush you. And does anyone thinks the likes of Liz Cheney is going for any less than total destruction here?
Absolutely.
I figure it will be like the Watergate hearings: talking heads, with some occasional excitement.
I was in Jr. High during the Watergate hearings and I could barely be pulled away from the boob tube during the entire thing. It really got me interested in politics and I was what, 12 or 13 at the time? I hope this does the same to kids now although I have to admit there were only a handful of us in school who were paying attention. lol
Spike,
The same thing happened to me. I was totally immersed in the hearings then and will be again this time. Watergate deepened my curiosity about democracy and the role of government and I’ve never lost interest yet. I second your wish that this will produce another wave of educated young people. America needs to double down with civics in every school.
I am veritably on the edge of my seat looking forward to these hearings. Our nation suffered a trauma and I expect it will be a welcome salve.
I was in Uni during Watergate, Spike, and we used to gather to watch the hearings live, albeit through a pleasant haze of beer & weed. The hearings were so powerfully addictive that we even missed our daily dosage of Sesame Street!
NOTE: After the WATERGATE public hearings Nixon’s approvals dropped 15 pts and his party lost the midterms.
AND THE SPANKING TIMELINE: The DOJ took 2 long years of careful investigations before dozens of Nixon’s aides were indicted after the WATERGATE break-in. Many additional months for them to be jailed.
Brakester and Spike, I agree with you. The J6 hearings could be a way to encourage some smart, caring young people to want to understand the democracy they live in. And with any luck, at least some of them will want to enter politics for all the right reasons!
To all of you, I hope it goes this way. I was barely in HS when all that started and was GLUED to the tube. Civics was already my favorite class that year, probably because I had such a great teacher. And my extracurricular love was the debate team. I should have ended up in law school somewhere, but that’s another horrible story.
I’m a bit older, and we had civics in both Jr. High and High School. My (U.S.) history teacher extended the time normally devoted to straight civics, and added an extra week so we could hold our own version of a Senate trial of Nixon. Lots of my fellow students wanted to be on the prosecution team (as did I) but no one volunteered to defend Nixon. Despite my already strong liberal beliefs, I decided to become his lead “Manager” and only one other classmate (more moderate than me) joined me. Everyone knew I was a liberal but having promised our teacher (who would preside) that I would put up a real defense I did so. It was of course a loser of a case as it would have been in real life but I took pride in the many comments after the vote to convict that I’d done a good job. It was instructive to me to play devil’s advocate, and taught me the value of (even when distasteful) looking at things from a completely opposing perspective. It really does help to make your own case/argument stronger. Or sometimes lead you to modify your opinion some. Objectivity is important and one has to exercise it because sometimes it’s crucial for us to stop and make a truly objective assessment of things or a specific situation lest we find ourselves being blindsided because we were overly sure. So many people staying home, or finding “reasons” to vote third Party in 2016 (or 2000) because they simply didn’t believe it was possible for either Clinton or Gore to lose are tragic examples of what can happen when we get too caught up in our own system of beliefs and network of like-minded people and don’t stop and take an objective look at the big picture.
TY MURPH… this will be FUN! and it’s all #PENDING .. at House’s Pleasure .. while the RW IN USA (and Canada) flail and Burn Books! and FLYNN tries to create a RELIGION without any Christianity .. just for his FATHERLAND idol who is rapidly sinking in his PICKS Dementia .. and now has 2 BILLION in Bank loans that can be called in anytime!