By Stephen Macaulay
After the word About, there are 2,410 more.
That is the length of the self-description of the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol.
Readers of The Hustings aren’t going to read all that (e.g., “Notwithstanding clause 3(m) of rule X of the Rules of the House of Representatives, the Select Committee is authorized to study the sources and methods of entities described in clause 11(b)(1)(A) of rule X insofar as such study is related to the matters described in sections 3 and 4.”)
Writers for The Hustings (at least this one) aren’t going to read all that. (I nearly slipped into a snooze just inputting those words above.)
This coming Thursday night, at 8 p.m., the House 1/6 panel will be on prime time. The people on MSNBC are so excited that I’m afraid that some of them will pop a vein.
“Finally!” they and others think, “The American people are going to see and hear the Truth after months and months of the Big Lie.”
If only.
Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-MS), the committee’s chair said last month that the panel’s TV presentation will "use a combination of witnesses, exhibits, things that we have through the tens of thousands of exhibits we've [...] looked at, as well as the hundreds of witnesses we deposed or just talked to in general."
Here’s the thing: If this is orchestrated in any way, shape or form like either of the impeachment procedures for Donald J. Trump were, then the Committee’s show, in the parlance of entertainment, will be a stiff.
There is probably a thought among the Committee members that they must appear to be above reproach.
There’s nothing wrong with that.
But guess what?
They are never going to convince the people who embrace the Big Lie.
They are not going to dissuade the people who saw what happened — probably on TV — on January 6, 2020 and recognized that this wasn’t a group of wayward tourists in any way. And Fox News will not be covering it live.
The objective should be to go as hard at it as those who will be decrying the hearing.
Make it clear. Make it obvious. Make it something that simply states what happened without any whys and wherefores.
Don’t be any more complex than “Here are the dots. Here’s how they are connected.” Period.
The American public isn’t stupid. But the American public needs a simple explanation: Lay it out without trying to be prim, proper and ass-covering.
The Big Lie isn’t based on some Aristotelian logic. Just simple statements, their veracity notwithstanding.
The 1/6 Committee gets one opportunity because if they don’t get it right the first time, the subsequent shows will be overshadowed by any number of infomercials about products no one has any interest in.