House Democrats prosecuting political dissidents in the form of the Select Committee on Jan. 6 admitted this week the show trial investigation is all about the November midterms.
On Friday, The Washington Post chronicled the committee’s next steps in a feature headlined “Jan. 6 committee faces a thorny challenge: Persuading the public to care” as Americans lose enthusiasm for severe retribution against those involved with a constitutionally protected rally 14 months ago, who are the true target of the committee’s work as opposed to perpetrators of the Capitol riot.
One lawmaker, the Post wrote, “added that even some of their Democratic constituents have lost interest in the committee’s work because of more pressing issues, like inflation and the coronavirus pandemic.” Americans are now coping with gas prices eclipsing their record peak and compounded by an inflation rate running at a four-decade high.
The Jan. 6 probe, however, is dominating lawmakers’ priorities, including Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney who is one of two Republicans appointed by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to serve on the panel. Cheney, the Post reported, is “spending the majority of her time on the matter, people familiar with her work say,” instead of reclaiming her lost role on the Natural Resources Committee.
In other words, Cheney has devoted her tenure in Congress under the Biden administration to executing a vendetta against former President Donald Trump and his supporters, instead of countering the White House policy running against the interests of her constituents. Nearly half of Wyoming land is under federal oversight, with agriculture and resource extraction serving as two of the state’s primary industries. Its sole member of the lower chamber no longer serves on the premier committee to navigate the myriad public lands issues important to Wyoming voters while President Joe Biden aims to choke off new oil and gas leases on federal lands.
Democrats devoting too much time to a topic the public cares comparatively little about is becoming a routine practice despite the divisive institutional consequences. President Trump’s first soap opera impeachment trial got half the viewership of actual soap operas. His second drew about the same as the daytime dramas.
Now the Jan. 6 Committee has become the Democrats’ new hoax, aimed not at probing the security failures at the Capitol but at smearing political dissidents in the run-up to midterms. Democrats admitted what was already obvious to The Washington Post on Friday.
“Their challenge: Making the public care deeply — and read hundreds of pages more — about an event that happened more than a year ago, and that many Americans feel they already understand,” the Post highlighted, followed by the passage below (emphasis ours):
They’ll attempt to do so this spring through public hearings, along with a potential interim report and a final report that will be published ahead of the November midterms — with the findings likely a key part of the Democrats midterm strategy. They hope their recommendations to prevent another insurrection will be adopted, but also that their work will repel voters from Republicans who they say helped propel the attack.
With only eight out of the 96 subpoenas issued by the committee targeting individuals associated with the turmoil at the Capitol, according to a Federalist analysis, the committee’s work was never aimed at probing legitimate security failures while Congress was in session. Investigating the Capitol security failures would also mean investigating Speaker Pelosi’s own culpability, which Committee Chair Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., pledged to avoid.
The 96 subpoenas do not include the more than 100 seeking the telephone records of individuals whose identities remain under seal, both from the public and from those whose privacy the committee seeks to violate.
In an effort to dramatize Democrats’ performative outrage, the committee has reportedly discussed hiring a journalist to write its reports and create videos to blast across the internet that are also featured in televised hearings, potentially in prime time.
“Two people with knowledge of the report say the committee wants it to include gripping testimony and quotes, along with starring roles for key players in the events leading up to and on Jan. 6, 2021,” the Post wrote. Rep. Peter Aguilar, D-Calif., “told The Washington Post in an interview that the committee is committed to ensuring that the report isn’t written in ‘Congressional Research Service’ style.”
Tristan Justice is the western correspondent for The Federalist. He has also written for The Washington Examiner and The Daily Signal. His work has also been featured in Real Clear Politics and Fox News. Tristan graduated from George Washington University where he majored in political science and minored in journalism. Follow him on Twitter at @JusticeTristan or contact him at Tristan@thefederalist.com.
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