The real reason the January 6th public hearings are so devastating to Donald Trump
One of the big things the January 6th Committee got right on Thursday: there was none of that “it nearly succeeded” or “our democracy is nearly dead” talk. Instead it was all about proving Donald Trump’s guilt, with a de facto call to action to imprison him and vote his party out.
The “we’re doomed” stuff just chases away the people in the middle who don’t want to be associated with what they’re being told is a losing cause, and tells your own base that there’s no point in even trying to win the next election. That kind of talk is always counterproductive. Instead, the committee worked to steer the audience in two directions:
1) Trump committed serious crimes under the law and must be punished. As the committee piles on with even more evidence, it’ll start to get more explicit in calling for Trump to be criminally charged.
2) Trump’s Republican Party must also be punished by voters for its complicity. The committee can’t specifically tell the audience how to vote without looking overly partisan. But audiences will come away understanding that November gives them an opportunity to rectify this.
Given that it’s now very clear that the DOJ is criminally targeting Donald Trump on multiple fronts and has been for at least half a year, the committee may have nothing to gain by making a formal referral against Trump. However, whether a formal referral is made or not, the committee will make it abundantly clear that it wants the DOJ to indict, charge, prosecute, and imprison Donald Trump. And if the committee has done its job, audiences will come away agreeing with it.
The DOJ isn’t going to criminally charge Trump just because the public demands it. It’ll have to be the kind of case that will actually get a conviction at trial – which is a big challenge even when the evidence is very strong, as it is here.
But overwhelming public pressure to charge Trump will prompt the mainstream media to finally begin talking about the reality of Trump facing prison. It will also make clear to his coward supporters that they’re outnumbered – and these types always back down when outnumbered.
And of course it’ll put every Republican midterm candidate in the no-win situation of having to take a position on whether Trump should go to prison. Any position they take, they’ll lose some votes. Or if they take no position, the media will hound them endlessly over it.
If the goal is to win, and you’re starting off by educating and outraging your audience, you must then pivot to how they can use that knowledge and outrage to go out and right that wrong. The committee appears to be firmly on that track – which is the best news in all of this.
