Excerpts from an article itemizing why the author believes that the outcome of these hearings will not 'change the minds of any voters'.
Edward Keenan –The Star – June 10, 2022
Edward Keenan –The Star – June 10, 2022
As I was watching the first of several public hearings outlining the findings of the congressional committee investigating the Jan. 6 insurrectionist riot at the U.S. Capitol on Thursday night, a memory of the Rob Ford years in Toronto flashed through my mind.
Back then, in the months after Gawker and the Star reported that the mayor had smoked crack cocaine but he was denying it, journalists got a lot of feedback on social media suggesting we weren’t asking Ford the right questions every day, or for not shouting “you’re lying” in response to everything he said. There seemed to be an underlying assumption that if we just phrased a question correctly, or took the right adversarial tone, Ford would stumble into admitting everything — and that such an admission would turn his remaining supporters against him, and he would resign in disgrace.
Then one day, out of the blue, he admitted he’d smoked crack cocaine, “probably in one of my drunken stupors.”
And what happened after that is his support basically held. He continued to refuse to resign, while he and his team didn’t budge from the narrative that his key problem was that the media had it in for him. He remained competitive in a race for re-election until cancer — not scandal — finally forced him out of it.
If ever there was conclusive evidence in my mind that almost no revelation could change the status of a deeply polarized political struggle if one side is completely shameless, that was it.
This is a story Americans are already familiar with. Many remain horrified by it, and seeing it in vivid detail will no doubt refresh their disgust. But a substantial number of them — a majority of Republican voters — dismiss it as no big deal. Exaggerated, or overblown. They continue to think Trump is the hard-done-by hero of the story of that day. And I think it is unlikely any revelation — even one as clear cut as when Ford admitted his crack use and his dishonesty about it — is likely to change that.
Trump’s entire plot to deny the election results and stay in power is important to understand for its own sake — not least because he and his supporters have been trying to change laws and elect or appoint election officials who will make such an attempt successful next time.
Cheney, an ideological conservative who voted loyally with Trump for four years, addressed her fellow Republicans who are trying to convince their voters that the committee hearings are a partisan political stunt. “There will come a day when Donald Trump is gone, but your dishonour will remain,” she said.
Back then, in the months after Gawker and the Star reported that the mayor had smoked crack cocaine but he was denying it, journalists got a lot of feedback on social media suggesting we weren’t asking Ford the right questions every day, or for not shouting “you’re lying” in response to everything he said. There seemed to be an underlying assumption that if we just phrased a question correctly, or took the right adversarial tone, Ford would stumble into admitting everything — and that such an admission would turn his remaining supporters against him, and he would resign in disgrace.
Then one day, out of the blue, he admitted he’d smoked crack cocaine, “probably in one of my drunken stupors.”
And what happened after that is his support basically held. He continued to refuse to resign, while he and his team didn’t budge from the narrative that his key problem was that the media had it in for him. He remained competitive in a race for re-election until cancer — not scandal — finally forced him out of it.
If ever there was conclusive evidence in my mind that almost no revelation could change the status of a deeply polarized political struggle if one side is completely shameless, that was it.
This is a story Americans are already familiar with. Many remain horrified by it, and seeing it in vivid detail will no doubt refresh their disgust. But a substantial number of them — a majority of Republican voters — dismiss it as no big deal. Exaggerated, or overblown. They continue to think Trump is the hard-done-by hero of the story of that day. And I think it is unlikely any revelation — even one as clear cut as when Ford admitted his crack use and his dishonesty about it — is likely to change that.
Trump’s entire plot to deny the election results and stay in power is important to understand for its own sake — not least because he and his supporters have been trying to change laws and elect or appoint election officials who will make such an attempt successful next time.
Cheney, an ideological conservative who voted loyally with Trump for four years, addressed her fellow Republicans who are trying to convince their voters that the committee hearings are a partisan political stunt. “There will come a day when Donald Trump is gone, but your dishonour will remain,” she said.
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