I sometimes think we have too many hearings and investigations. Clearly, however, the January 6th events required thorough investigation. If it was not a serious threat to our country, we needed to know that for sure. If it was a serious threat, we obviously needed to identify how to avoid a repetition.
The first day of the January 6th
hearings clearly proved that the January 6th storming of the Capitol
was an insurrection intended to thwart the peaceful turn-over of power.
Although I am inclined to think Rep.
Pelosi inappropriately rejected potential committee members, thereby
undermining the credibility of the hearings, the evidence speaks for itself. I don’t see how anyone can question the
nature of the attack on the Capitol.
Some critics claim that the January
6th hearings are a partisan production intended to influence future
elections. My primary response to that
is that a critical attack on our country occurred on January 6th. So, of course, future voters should consider
political candidates’ actions in contributing to that attack or defending
against it and in underplaying the attack subsequently or helping to identify
the causes.
Although January 6th is
relevant to voting decisions, a government panel should avoid appearing
partisan. Rep. Pelosi chose not to take a
non-partisan approach. I’m not expert on
the laws or precedents, nor about how the committee’s work might have been
affected if some of President Trump’s supporters had been on the
committee. I doubt that I would have
taken Rep. Pelosi’s approach, but I can’t be sure. But I bemoan the impression of partisanship
that resulted.
On the second day, there was lots
of proof that President Trump lied. No
surprise there. For 40 years, I’ve been
surprised that anybody trusts what Donald Trump says. As I’ve written, I don’t know if he even
understands the difference between truth and falsehood.
Trump, of course, likes to paint
his Republican opponents as RINO (Republican in Name Only), but he is unquestionably,
in my opinion, the most prominent RINO.
He has no loyalty to any organization, person or ideology, solely pursuing
his personal advantage.
Listening to the second day of the
January 6th hearings, I had to keep reminding myself that this is
part of a larger fabric that is being presented, as I was distracted by the
incongruity of emphasizing Trump’s lies in a society in which people turn a
blind eye when politicians they support lie.1
The reporting on the second day
would have been better had it continually tied Trump’s lies to the serious
issues about which he was lying.
On the third day, I thought Greg
Jacob was a particularly impressive witness.
John Eastman’s theory was that
there were contested slates, so Pence could refuse to recognize them or could
send them back to the states to re-certify.
Pence clearly acted appropriately.
There was no basis for failing to recognize the states’ certified
election results and clearly the founders would not have wanted the VP to have
the power Trump was claiming Pence had.
Weak as the actual theory was, it
relied on their being “contested” slates.
I was disappointed that the presentation kept trying to suggest that the
theory was that the VP could decide to pick whatever candidate he wanted as
president. This extreme slant was very
disappointing. Care should be taken to
avoid the look of partisanship. This dripped of partisanship.
The Committee and witnesses properly
stressed Pence’s courage in maintaining his principles and in refusing to leave
the Capitol when his security detail urged him to do so.
I was reminded how dismissive some
of my leftist friends and mainstream media have been of Mike Pence. I’ve maintained that I respect him.
Some people who served in Trump’s
cabinet did so to try to protect our country, but at great angst and damage to
their reputation. I recognized that and
considered them to be true patriots. “Woke”
extremists, convinced of their personal virtue and the despicable nature of
people who disagree with them, could not see that. Then, when an anonymous article was written
to the NY Times, they were astounded.
How blind are they?
Clearly there was insufficient
fraud in the 2020 election to make a difference. Nonetheless, we are vulnerable to fraud in
our elections (as I have blogged about previously) and it behooves us to take
steps to protect the integrity of our elections.
On day 4 of the hearings, Cassidy
Hutchinson spoke. Her testimony was
impressive despite including a lot of “hearsay”.
An area of poor reporting on day 4
was the media’s reaction to her testimony that President Trump wanted to go to
the Capitol and tried to resist when his security detail insisted on going to
the White House. They kept criticizing
Trump for wanting to overrule his security detail.
They were correct to criticize him,
but they generally left off the key element – the reason why he wanted to go to
the Capitol. He wanted to go there to
support and enjoy the event. It was his
reason for wanting to go there that was wrong, not the fact that he tried to
overrule his security team.
Trump supporters likely observed
the media’s apparent inconsistency from their perspective: one day they praise
VP Mike Pence for overruling his security team and the next day they criticize
President Trump for the same type of action.
Do not misunderstand, I agree that
VP Pence was heroic, and that President Trump’s behavior was unacceptable. My only point is that it is important to keep
the focus on the motivation.
On day 5, we learned more about
President Trump’s efforts to pressure politicians and government employees to
do his bidding to support false claims of election fraud and also pressuring
potential witnesses to be “loyal” to him rather than to their oath. Sadly, it was not surprising to see the
numerous circumstances of such serious misbehavior. It is President Trump’s modus operandi.
--- Claude
1As much as Trump lies, Democrats
and the mainstream media have exaggerated the frequency of his lies. I pleaded for Trump opponents to avoid such a
practice and Ms. Obama said “When they go low, we go high.” Bur that has not been the case. Lies about President Trump have driven more
people to his support and tied them to him more strongly.
President Obama was proven to have
made several significant lies repeatedly.
He was a much more skillful liar than President Trump. President Biden has also lied repeatedly. Neither lies as frequently as President
Trump, but their lies are significant and should not be tolerated by their
supporters.
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