Jan. 6 Hearings Make Great TV, But Will It Matter?
That moment of comic relief roared across the Twitterverse. It didn’t add much to the committee’s argument that Trump worked to undermine the election results, but it did underscore an important element of context: a symbolic example of how a grand scheme to reverse Trump’s election loss could run quickly out of control and turn against at least one lawmaker who tried to use it for political advantage.
But, alas, as the laughter subsided I was left to wonder, like countless other viewers, how much difference the clip and the rest of the TV-savvy hearings will make with voters.
Overall the hearings have scored better than previous televised hearings since Watergate, an era when we had a lot fewer video screens competing for our eyeballs.
Experts say the ratings have been high for midsummer, a time of year when viewership tends to be low. About 20 million people watched the first prime-time hearing on June 9, according to the Nielsen Co.’s ratings.
But it appears that anyone looking to the polls for a dramatic trend for or against Trump’s political future will have to wait a while longer. His approval rating among Republicans remains high as he prepares for possible run again in 2024. But, as Randy Evans, a Georgia lawyer who served as Trump’s ambassador to Luxembourg, told Politico, over time negative news has a corrosive effect, even on Trump.
“It’s never the one thing” that can bring down a house of cards, he said. “It’s the accumulation.”
The hearings have given Attorney General Merrick Garland a lot to chew on, too.
“No person,” not even a former president, is above the law, Garland reiterated in a news conference before Thursday’s hearing. Those who want to speculate, he said, will have to keep on speculating.
Yes, we will. Garland quite properly avoids litigating his cases in public. But as a relentless speculator, I think Trump is in trouble.
Based on the evidence that has been gathered carefully and exhaustively by the Select Committee, Trump and his allies have offered much for which he should be held accountable.
Trump’s reputation is not all that’s at stake. So is our faith in the ability of our judicial system to bring justice.
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(E-mail Clarence Page at cpage@chicagotribune.com.)
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