Why the Jan 6 Committee Matters
Unless you have maxed out your data plan for June, you are aware that last Thursday was the first night of the Jan 6 Committee’s first televised hearing. If you are looking for highlights or quick hits of what to know about the hearings, the New York Times has a great four takeaways article with more context and information at the end. Instead of doing a similar breakdown of the hearing, I think adding some context to the greater importance surrounding these televised hearings would be beneficial. And to do that best, we need look no further than to The Atlantic’s David French and The Bulwark’s Mona Charen.
In his newsletter The Third Rail, French argues that the televised hearings are essential because there are still a not insignificant number of regular Republicans who do not know that Donald Trump is Donald Trump. By that, French says that there are still Republicans who have not heard of the Eastman memos, they do not know Trump tried to strong-arm the Georgia Secretary of State or install a slate of shadow electors. These Republicans live in a bubble where the Perception Gap is entirely in play, meaning they see Trump and other Republicans as better than they are and Democrats as worse than they are. The Jan 6 hearings are needed because this may be the first time some of these folks have heard how deranged and awful Trump’s attempt to overturn the 2020 election was.
Mona Charen has a another takeaway. Charen argues that the Jan 6 Committee’s focus on what Trump knew is wrongheaded. She says that it does not matter whether Trump knew he had lost. Instead, it is more important to ask what Trump should have known. Charen says, “If you are the owner of a dye factory and an employee sues when he’s blinded by a malfunctioning machine, you can’t escape responsibility by saying that you didn’t know the machinery was faulty.” This line of thinking says that Trump is criminally negligent because he willfully kept the truth from himself and his supporters.
And this is where the argument intersects with French’s piece because Charen argues that it is not just Trump who has been negligent but anyone who blindly supported him and did not attempt to find the truth. She says we all must work to discover what is true and what is a lie. When we abstain from our duty because we like the lie our guy sells, we are guilty of whatever comes from that lie.
French paints a sympathetic portrait of a strain of Republicans striving to do the right thing, and there is much to commend in his argument, but Charen’s argument is sound. In a democracy, the people who make the decisions, the ordinary citizens, have a duty to be informed. Based on what the Jan 6 Committee has already shown, Trump is a liar or a lunatic. Both choices should bar him from holding the presidency a second time. But those options do not, unfortunately, absolve those who have bought into Trump’s lies or derangement.
A Wednesday news story out of New Mexico illustrates one reason the work of the Jan 6 Committee is relevant — Trump’s disinformation campaign effects elections now and in the future. Couy Griffin, a Trump supporter convicted of illegally entering US Capitol grounds on Jan 6, 2021, was elected to a county canvasing board. And now that board is refusing to certify the results of the June 7 primary because they believe the voting machines are rigged — one of the many election lies spread by Trump which led to the insurrection. The Jan 6 Committee isn’t just about understanding what happened in the past, it’s about what’s happening today, and in the future.
The inconsistencies in Trump's story have always been there. At some point, Trump supporters will have to reckon with the damage Trump has done. But, as French rightly notes, we can and should be sympathetic to those who were taken in by Trump's lies and promises. For that is also a duty we hold to each other because while Trump supporters may be in the wrong today, shame only gets us so far. Humility demands we realize the truth that while we may not have been taken in by Trump's lies, there will come a day when we are in the wrong. And we will surely want someone there willing to sympathize with us and help us get back on the right track.
2 Other Things
1) The American Values Coalition is proud to stand with Team Democracy. Team Democracy is a non-profit "representing all Americans in our shared commitment to defending and strengthening the most essential cornerstones of American democracy." AVC has signed their Safe and Fair Election pledge and we urge you to do the same by clicking the link here.
Check out the group’s Wednesday morning interview with CBS below.
2) While all the focus will rightfully be on the Jan 6 Committee, The Atlantic has an insightful profile of Steve Bannon from Jennifer Senior. While Bannon's influence may have shrunk, it has not disappeared. Or at least Bannon is working hard to keep his influence from shrinking.