How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the January 6 Committee

The hearings are making news, and there's plenty of value in that.

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We’re only two installments into the limited-run production of the January 6 hearings, and so far, I think they’ve been great. But I also think they’ll leave almost everyone, except for me, unsatisfied. 

For many Democrats and Never Trumpers, the hope is—or was—that this would lead to criminal prosecution of Donald Trump. On Sunday, Rep. Adam Schiff chummed the waters for those already ravenously hungry to see the former president in leg chains. Schiff said on ABC’s This Week that he’s seen what he believes to be “credible evidence” that Trump broke the law in his effort to overturn the 2020 election. 

Schiff might be right that Trump broke some laws, but if you’ve got your hopes set on Trump filling Truth Social with complaints about the food in the prison commissary, you’re destined for disappointment. 

Some Democrats have high hopes that the hearings will rescue the Democrats from electoral catastrophe in the midterms. That’s very unlikely, too. Whatever the hearings do, they won’t solve inflation, the border crisis, crime or Joe Biden’s dismal approval rating.

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  1. Avatar photo
    Ben Connelly

    Slowly, MAGA is tearing itself apart.

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  2. Andrew Bozzo

    I'm a centrist Dem and love the Dispatch and love your work Jonah( and sometimes like to get mad at you and the group which is evidence that you're all doing a good job) One of the reasons I became a listener is that you've all sounded the alarm about Trump from early on when he went down the road of cult versus principle. And you seem to have an adherence to the integrity of the constitution and solid Republican principles. For the record, I don't want "schadenfreude" nor do I hope the Dems successfully use this to save themselves from their own missteps. Maybe you sell some of us centrists short on that one. It's on the current administration to get their house in order and get out of their own way. Conjuring up images of a young Michael Corleone: "What I WANT" is calibration and normalcy. That shit(Jan 6/Eastmen/45/DTjr.) was not normal and thank God for Mike Pence and his crew for standing on principle.

    I agree with you there are signs of hope but I work "on the ground" in a blue-collar job with blue collar guys in bluest of blue- coo-coo coastal California. I work alongside a group of guys that, in their day to day, are good guys but silently believe- or want to believe that this election was indeed STOLEN(Spoiler alert- They're not Dems). Furthermore, they DO NOT believe, that even after a suitcase of beers, the Uncle is even drunk( yes I listen to the show).

    Without doing any deep dives, this group have resigned people like you, Steve, David, Sarah, Liz Cheney, Ben Saase, Adam Kinzinger et al as "RINO" "turncoats" motivated by trends and money.

    My point? I'm scared the horses are out of the barn. As I raise two teenagers and bend over backwards to make sure they have a substantive education where deep dives are a must, I fear that I am releasing them into a world where the disinformed mob could govern. This is the same mob that tosses facts, truth, education, history into the trash can with impunity. The most recent evidence: a small but significant number of election deniers or Trump allies that have made strides in these most recent elections and primaries around the US. These bad apples are rallying a very rotten bunch. I'll do my best to follow your latest advice and try to see the bright side but I got me a case of some early 1930s Churchill-style skepticism... I won't go further with that reference.

    What I will say is that there's a small yet perverted minority out there running around with stolen election nonsense and they have a news network. It is a chilling reminder to me of other times in history where a "crazy" minority became a dangerous norm and then became the ruling class.

    Out of politeness, or because we have phones with Wordle and Instagram to distract us from confrontation, WE centrists have not done a strong enough job of calling BULLSHIT and doing the UNpolitically correct, but necessary act of putting these clowns in the corner with a "dunce cap" firmly (and maybe permanently?) affixed on their heads.

    Thanks for all you do- wish there were more of you out there speaking out- or doing it more often. You make my drive into work tolerable and interesting.

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  3. Avatar photo
    Rob Weiter

    I agree with much of what you say, but I am concerned, really concerned, that if Trump and some of the leaders of Team Coup are not held legally accountable in a way that involves serious consequences, there is more danger for our country falling into autocracy.

    At this point there is way too much emphasis on Trump, rather than Trumpism,. which has infected a large portion of what passes for American conservatism these days.
    I am much less optimistic apparently than you, Jonah. There are elected grifters who are a lot more intelligent and savvy then Trump ever was and, without serious consequences, they now have a playbook. The rule of law Democrats and the rest of us who reject the grifting and other shenanigans are unprepared, I believe, for the ruthlessness of many power hungry or i ideologue Trumpist politicians and the willingness of low level conspiracy theorist officials to violate their duties. We see this in the county officials in Texas who have been ordered by the New Mexico Supreme Court to certify the election

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    J.Seravalli

    Not to get lost in the weeds, but if Stepien's wife labor was induced that changes the whole "Team Normal" aspect of the story. If that is the case it was a perfect move.

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    Antebellum Whig

    This is a simple and elegant argument: "arguing that we should move on requires conceding the facts of what happened". I like it.

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  6. Avatar photo
    DougAz

    https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/06/15/ginni-thomas-john-eastman-emails/

    Ginni Thomas needs indicted for Sedition and Conspiracy. Clarence needs investigating

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  7. Eric

    As to “Team Abnormal” and Trumps side is not being provided, I look at these hearings as a Grand Jury, and the trial will take place in the public square.
    Trumps side has been provided ad nauseum ever since January 6th happened.

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  8. Avatar photo
    BrettH

    Enjoyed the read, thanks Jonah. I also doubt there will be any criminal indictment of Trump (for this grotesque offense anyway) and that is going to be a long lasting stain on our government and the rule of law.

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    Josh Blumenthal

    It may be all we get is "moving on," but nah. Too many people will be allowed to slip away without any consequence, not even meaningful embarrassment.

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  10. MikeS

    If all the hearings do is give GOP politicians and conservative commentators a "safe space" for a tiny smidgen of honesty, then they will have been an abject failure. Who the hell cares about the fortunes of these peddlers of political grift?

    I don't see how people who profess to be concerned about the events up to and including 1/6 can settle for less than hardening our democracy against something similar in the future, whether through indictments and convictions, legislation, or the ballot. More weasel words from the conservative commentariat will do little to move the needle on these.

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