House Democrats just got the break they needed
If you only pay attention to histrionics, you might be tempted to think that William Barr somehow “won” this evening when he announced that he would refuse to show up for tomorrow’s House Judiciary Committee hearing about the Mueller report. But for those who understand strategy, and what winning and losing really look like, House Democrats just got the huge winning hand they’ve been looking for.
No one on either side tends to want to want to hear this, but these kinds of political battles are entirely about influencing the average nonpolitical American in the middle, who’s sitting at home and watching with mild interest. These are the people who don’t understand (or care) which side is inherently the “good” side in terms of the issues; they only respond to which side appears to be acting more reasonably or less reasonably. Frustrating as these people are, they’re the ones whose minds can be changed – and thus everything hinges on their reaction to any given move.
If you listen to Democratic House leaders, they’ve been itching for the opportunity to carry out the appropriate consequences against a Trump regime witness who refused to cooperate. They just needed one of Trump’s people to do something to put themselves in contempt, so they could respond accordingly. It looked like they were going to have to settle for popping a relative nobody like Carl Kline, for refusing to show up to a hearing that most people weren’t going to watch anyway. But that just changed, in a big way.
William Barr was exposed last night by the Mueller letter. Then he spent today further exposing himself in the eyes of TV viewers at home, when he gave one disingenuous and ridiculous answer after another. Now that he’s been cast as a villain, he’s suddenly refusing to show up to the House hearing tomorrow. The House Judiciary Committee will hold its televised hearing tomorrow without him, and will use the entire time to keep pointing out that Barr refused to show up, while explaining why Barr was too chicken to show up.
Then, after having made their case to the American people on live television – the only medium that can truly change large numbers of minds in short order these days – they’ll hold William Barr in contempt of Congress, and they’ll carry out whatever aggressive response they’re planning.
Jerry Nadler and other Democratic House leaders have already begun talking about arresting Trump’s people. But that was only going to fly if they could sell such maneuvers as being reasonable in the eyes of average, nonpolitical Americans. In that regard, William Barr just served himself up on a silver platter. Of course Barr was screwed the minute the Mueller letter surfaced. But now that he’s dodging tomorrow’s hearing, House Democrats can get away with dropping a house on him. It’s the big break they’ve been hoping for.
