Holy crap Kevin McCarthy blew it
Last night the January 6th Committee held a primetime hearing, aired live on multiple cable news networks in front of a huge audience, for the purpose of recommending that Mark Meadows be indicted for criminal contempt. It all made for a compelling case that Meadows, Donald Trump, and others committed crimes against the United States in relation to January 6th. Every member of the committee spoke during the hearing, and while they each had their own take, they all agreed on the facts of the matter. It was overwhelmingly refreshing – and it almost wasn’t this way.
It’s easy to forget that House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy was allowed to seat as many as five people on this committee. All he had to do was pick five House Republicans who weren’t believed to have been a part of Trump’s 1/6 plot, and he could have gotten them confirmed. Even after Speaker Nancy Pelosi rejected his ludicrous picks Jim Jordan and Jim Banks, McCarthy still could have kept his other three milquetoast House Republican picks on the committee. Instead he withdrew them all in a huff.
As a result, during last night’s widely viewed hearing, not a single committee member tried to distract from the facts at hand, push Donald Trump’s preferred narratives, or try to turn the whole thing into a shouting match. This is obviously a good thing for America. But since the facts are entirely against Trump and his allies, the total lack of Trump apologists on the committee is turning out to be a terrible thing for Trump.
In other words, Kevin McCarthy has totally blown it. And if McCarthy was indeed taking marching orders from Trump when it came to his handling of the committee, then Trump has totally blown it. This committee is exactly what America needs, and it’s the worst case scenario for Trump and McCarthy.
