The January 6th Hearings Are What Democrats Need
Trump supporters storming the capitol, January 6th, 2021. Photo by Tyler Merbler from USA, CC BY 2.0
The Democratic Party has seemingly resigned itself to failure in the 2022 midterm elections. Republicans have crafted a message and are blaring that message on the campaign trail every chance they get. Meanwhile, Democrats have mostly given up on passing substantial new legislation before November. They feel completely outmatched on the issue of inflation and have resorted to infighting and backbiting in response to their problems. The party feels adrift. It needs something that will set a spark and change the narrative on the president’s floundering term.
The January 6th committee hearings may be what Democrats need to change the conversation about the current political system. Members of the committee are promising a grand display of never-before-seen evidence tying a number of Republicans to the events of that day. Committee member Jamie Raskin said on Monday that the hearings will “tell the story of a conspiracy to overturn the 2020 presidential election and block the transfer of power.” He added, in a nod to our Trump-obsessed times, “I think that Donald Trump and the White House were at the center of these events.”
Democrats are wise to focus on the hearings and their potential salience for voters. They have done a poor job of arguing that they will be able to solve the nation’s problems and pass the legislation that voters elected them for. They have also failed to coalesce around a clear narrative regarding their opponents. Democrats often try to wage the culture war, focusing on the implications of whatever topics Republicans are focusing on that week, from banning books to teaching race and gender in schools.
The January 6th hearings will help clarify that narrative. It will involve days of prime-time spectacle, replaying the horrifying images of that day again and again for the country to see. The implicit message of the hearings will be that this is the Republican Party, the party that so many voters believe will handle inflation or stop the Ukraine invasion or bring baby formula back to store shelves. According to Democrats, the rioters were not outliers but a symbol of the Republican Party’s rejection of political norms and their thirst for power. The party may have once been anodyne businessmen and Christian conservatives, but it is now lawless, armed men and women who defile the halls of power and want to hang the Vice President for disagreeing with them.
In fact, there is more that Democrats could do to emphasize their significance. They could buy ads to ensure more viewers and exposure for this event. They could enlist celebrities and famous political supporters to create buzz over the next week. This push should be reminiscent of the interminable Benghazi hearings, which were amplified weeks ahead of time by conservative media. Democrats need to do the same so this significant moment has the greatest impact possible.
The January 6th hearings will not solve all of the Democratic Party’s problems. They still need to craft a message on inflation, pandemic-related shortages, and what they would do with another two years in power. But a critical part of midterm elections is defining the other side and the implications of what that side will do if they gain or retain control of Congress. Republicans have hammered home this argument time and again in both conservative and traditional media. With the January 6th hearings, Democrats will have another opportunity to do the same.
For good or ill I don’t think this will have any impact on outcomes. The issue will be inflation, particularly on food and energy.
However I do think the Democrats should prioritize getting a couple simple reforms to the Electoral Count Act to the floor. That’s a lot more likely to prevent a recurrence than anything else that could plausibly be accomplished between now and the end of the congressional term. Allegedly there has been some movement and some GOP support.Report
its not like Republicans can offer anything concrete on inflation except to say its bad. They don’t have any policy proposals to speak of.
I don’t reforms to the Electoral College Act will really do anything either. What Trump and his minions were after would just have considered that a speed bump.Report
I disagree. The crazies are going to crazy but officially making a constitutional crisis harder is a good thing, especially when someone has already attempted it via a particular path. This should not have come down to Mike Pence’s fateful call with Dan Quayle nor should 2 cranks be enough to challenge a state’s slate of electors. Even better would be if they can add a provision that Congress will not acknowledge electors sent in contravention of a state’s popular vote (and the the Democrats should push for that) but I’d take the first 2 if it was all that was on offer.Report
I mean, sometimes in politics, it’s enough to be the other guy.
Over in the UK, Labour currently has a double digit lead, not because they’ve gotten much better at politics than when they were 5 points behind the Tories even w/ Starmer as leader, it’s just inflation has hit the UK too and the Tory leadership made some dumb mistakes about parties.Report
As a Democrat, while it may seem like I should welcome a post about “This may help the Democrats’ midterm chances”, I actually don’t.
In fact, the fact that the Jan 6 hearings are commonly being viewed through this lens by pundits is what terrifies and enrages me.
The former President, his staff, the leadership of his party, and thousands of his supporters conspired to overturn the results of a free election, without cause, in order to subvert the workings of our democracy.
And they have shown every intention of trying to do it again.
This is something that every citizen needs to be made aware of, and they need to hold the officials accountable. As citizens, our last thought should be about the goddamn horserace.Report
From your lips to Merrick Garland’s ears.Report
I agree with this. Whether it’s politically useful or not the Democrats must move forward with the Jan. 6th hearings.Report
Just to be clear on my comment above, I don’t have a problem with Congressional hearings. I agree that there should be hearings.Report
It’s probably true that not a lot of people are going to change their minds about much of anything here. It’s entirely possible that a lot of people who ought to reconsider what they think or what they’re being told to think don’t care much about the truth, because they’ve been told it isn’t the truth and what they want the truth to be is more pleasing to their priors. And it’s also the case that people may think that inflation or other kinds of forward-looking problems matter more than the truth about a failed… whatever it was back in January of ’21.
But there are people who care about the truth. And the future will mark whether we made any effort at all to figure out what was going on. We can hope that maybe one day when partisan fervor has receded or become obsolete (no one cares whether you were a Dick Gephardt Democrat or a Gary Hart Democrat anymore) that what was learned investigating January 6 now will prove useful for those who follow in crafting policies to prevent crises and craft better policies.
The truth matters precisely because history isn’t over yet.Report
Truth matters. But the Dems have had several years to to do this. They’ve not addressed the economic issues. They have the majority in Congress and the Presidency. The supply problems are not new. Nothing effective has been done to address inflation, supply chain issues, etc. So, sure, spent a lot of time talking about evil Trump and the Republicans who helped him try and steal the election. Voters will be glad to know this as they watch the price of gas continue to rise. They will know the Dems have their back.Report
Sure, a group of plotters are trying to overturn elections and destroy American democracy.
But gas prices man, gas prices.
The funny thing about this line of logic is that it isn’t even logical under its own terms. The main goal of authoritarians, their whole purpose for being authoritarian, is to insulate themselves from the people’s complaints about economic issues.Report
What part of “But the Dems have had several years to to do this.” was unclear? They are in power. They chose not to pursue the issue when they came into power. And yet, you seem to be bitching that I’ve pointed out other issues that they aren’t addressing either, are less important then now, finally, they get around to looking into this? Yeah, that makes sense to the average guy.Report
Democrats impeached Donald Trump over the attacks within weeks. Republican senators voted not to convict. Within weeks of taking over the house and senate in 2021 they sent forward legislation to empanel a bipartisan 9/11 style commission which Republican senators also voted against. Democrats have had the House committee at work for most of the year plus since then.
They have had years – they’ve had 18 months give or take and they have been working hard on both the January 6 investigation and their legislation. Republicans are still voting against them in the senate.Report
The logic you’re using starts with the assumption that Republicans are authoritarians. The mere fact that the right doesn’t follow your reasoning should be a hint that no one but you makes that assumption.Report
A Republican president, backed by Republican state officials, colluding with Republican lawmakers in congress tried to overthrow a free and fair election because their guy lost.
I call that authoritarian. What do you call it?Report
Republican call it something that has to be deflected by any means possible.Report
Trump fans authoritarians? That’s like saying Mao fans are Communists.Report
Every Republican in the senate voted against a house passed price gouging bill. Every one. Likewise they have voted against every other economic proposal save the Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill.
So no, Democrats haven’t been sitting in their hands.
It might also be useful to remember that the January 6th attack was 18 months. ago, not years ago.
Remind us again why Republicans have no agency?Report
Promoting legislation that you know won’t succeed is a lot like sitting on your hands. It’s the same in terms of final outcome, and it may be worse if it’s keeping you from real solutions, but more likely it’s just theater. So, somehow it’s sitting on your hands while waving your arms.Report
My two Republican senators voted against the infrastructure bill but have given numerous interviews after it passed crowing about all the money it will bring to Mississippi. That sort of hypocritical response to democratic legislation tells me it’s all about feeding the base not actually doing any good. Plus republicans Logan’s are not offering any counter proposals.Report
The natural end point of Republicanism:
31 tied to hate group charged with planning riot near LGBTQ event in Idaho
Authorities received a tip about a “little army” loading into a U-Haul truck at a hotel Saturday afternoon, said Lee White, the police chief in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, a city of about 50,000 near the border with Washington. Local and state law enforcement pulled over the truck about 10 minutes later, White said at a news conference.
Many of those arrested were wearing logos representing Patriot Front, which rebranded after one of its members plowed his car into a crowd of people protesting a white-supremacist rally in Charlottesville in 2017, killing Heather Heyer and injuring dozens.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/06/11/patriot-front-arrests-idaho/
When the Trumpists, the followers of DeSantis and the armchair Chris Rufos were whipping up the hysteria about pedophile teachers grooming children, this is where they knew it would lead.
Violence against LGBTQ people was the predictable outcome, and they know it. Every authoritarian movement relies on the respectable people speaking quietly at polite conferences, and the street thugs carrying out the stochastic terrorism.
The goal of Abbot threatening to arrest parents who support trans youth, and DeSantis threatening corporations that treat LGBTQ people with dignity, and the various Patriot groups is to instill a climate of fear. Not just fear among their enemies, but fear among their own people so as to ride a stampede of witchburnings to power.
We were regularly told, right here on this very blog in calm and civil tones, about how fear about pedophile teachers was reasonable, how it was understandable because well, won’t someone think of the children.
This is where that fearmongering leads, and was predicted at the time.Report
Republicans, come get ya boys:
Proud Boys disturb ‘Drag Queen Story Hour’ at library, yell slurs: police
SAN LORENZO, Calif. (KRON) — Members of the Proud Boys organization disturbed a “Drag Queen Story Hour” event at the San Lorenzo Library on Saturday, the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office said in a Facebook post. Five men entered the library and shouted homophobic and transphobic slurs at the event organizer, police said.
Deputies responded to the library at about 1:30 p.m. for the report of a disturbance. The men were described to police as “extremely aggressive with a threatening violent demeanor causing people to fear for their safety.” Children, parents and other community members were at the event.Report
Well since Legitimate Americans would never attend such an event they had nothing to worry about.Report