It offers a foreboding reality check 17 months after the Capitol insurrection about how the House Republican conference has chosen the promise of future political advancement over the protection of American democracy.
The committee is expected to mount a devastating case about Trump’s behavior as he tried to steal the 2020 election in the run-up to and during the January 6 assault on the Capitol, which he incited and didn’t act to stop as lawmakers ran for their lives.
There are potential pitfalls for Republicans who stand with Trump as the lurid tale of violence, lies and autocratic power grabs is told again for the American people and for the benefit of history. The evidence could be so damning that those who seek to discredit the hearings will find themselves defending the indefensible — a dark moment of the American story that is so heinous it will live in infamy.
There are also sound electoral reasons to pass. It’s not a given that the hearings will achieve their apparent purpose and engage Americans so far after the event. After all, after four years of tumult that ended in a political cataclysm, it’s hard to imagine there are many voters who haven’t made up their minds on Trump.
Engaging and turning the hearings into a partisan spectacle could only elevate them. And Republicans have a much clearer route to power five months before the midterm elections than yet again appeasing Trump’s autocracy. They can simply blame President Joe Biden for the ills afflicting the country, given the disastrous political environment for Democrats as gasoline prices hit record highs and the cost of living soars.
Anything that deflects from that goal seems unwise.
There’s also a risk that standing with Trump will brand the GOP all over again with the stain of defending a strongman who tried to overthrow a democratic election. That vision repeatedly punished the party when Trump was in power. And defending him could remind critical suburban voters all over again of just how extreme their party has become.
Trump demands a strong defense
But the determination of Trump to paint an alternative version of events for Americans through conservative media suggests that the ex-President really doesn’t want the true story of his behavior coming out.
If the committee succeeds in convincing Americans of his culpability, it could seriously damage the ex-President’s hopes in a broader general election audience if he does seek to run again for the White House in 2024. There’s also the possibility that the panel has uncovered information that could put the twice-impeached President in legal jeopardy, though any criminal referral from the committee would require the Justice Department to initiate a prosecution — a potential long shot.
However worried Trump may be about the hearings, the willingness of top House Republicans to defend his assault on…
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