The unbearable weight of the insurrection
Close to tears at the first Jan. 6th committee hearing
At Thursday’s first public hearing of the committee investigating the Jan. 6th attack on the Capitol, viewers were promised multiple examples of criminal and amoral behavior, testimony from people who were at the table, and frequent reminders that many members of the Trump administration are running scared, and refusing to answer subpoenas in upcoming hearings.
I have been looking forward to this evening since the evening of Jan. 6, 2021, and yet I felt no sense of triumph, and that’s not because, as has been suggested on this Substack, that a large portion of Americans won’t be swayed by these horrible facts, regardless.
I vacillated between sadness and white-hot anger that we were thisclose to losing our democracy to some truly awful people. I will never forgive these people, ever.
While Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyoming, faced down her own party and calmly told viewers what we would see in the upcoming hearings, I nearly forgave her all her crappy politics. A dear friend of mine — a progressive — admitted that she’d sent Cheney money. So yeah.
I’m not there yet but I’m in full support of my friend doing so. Cheney also addressed her @GOP colleagues:
You are defending the indefensible.
And she reminded them that Trump will be gone, but those Republicans will still be stained by their support of the indefensible.
I was 13-going-on-14 during the Watergate hearings, which I watched slavishly — at first because they preempted regular program, and then because it was incredible television. The Watergate hearings formed and framed me, and made my choice of career easy. Two journalists toppled a crooked presidency. That was the kind of power I wanted to get next to.
Did I mention I was 13-going-on-14?
But last night, watching never-before-seen video of the insurrectionists desecrating the U.S. Capitol, trooping up the ornate stairs chanting, “Naaancy, Naaancy…
My God.
But we will do as committee chair Bennie Thompson, D-Miss. said we would do Thursday night. We will follow the truth wherever it leads us. And we will be stronger for it.
Just out of college in 1974 and working nights as a bartender I had the time to watch the Watergate hearings where Congressman Peter Rodino exhibited calm, non partisan leadership in navigating through the troubled waters churned up by Nixon and his plumbers! Fast forward to last night where that same type of leadership prevailed with Thompson and Cheney as they presented the facts of the Trump organized and led coup attempt! May their work continue and may those responsible, especially Trump, see that justice does in fact apply to them!
For 18 months I've been avoiding watching most of the video from January 6th, and I wasn't really planning to watch last night. But I tuned in and was immediately hooked by Rep Thompson and then Cheney. I don't want to like her, but damn. “There will come a day when President Trump is gone, but your dishonor will remain.” Put that on Mitch McConnell's tombstone. And every other summbitch senator and representative who voted against impeachment. The first time AND the second time.