INDEFENSIBLE — The Weekly Opine

The January 6 Committee is playing hardball. Don’t stop now. (Photo credit The Weekly Opine)

Blatant criminality

The January 6 Committee could have packed it in after the first public hearing last Thursday. During a primetime furnace blast the committee made it clear, to anyone who is not uniquely ignorant, that the insurrection on January 6, 2021, was planned well in advance. The attempted coup, orchestrated by Trump and his cohorts, in collaboration with white supremacist groups the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers, was factually not a spontaneous protest that morphed into a riot.

Indeed, the House Select Committee has a trove of evidence in their deep pockets, so the proceedings continue. On Monday of this week additional jaw-dropping testimony was heard. Even with a key witness, Trump’s campaign manager, not appearing in person the committee adroitly provided excerpts from Bill Stepien’s earlier closed testimony. It was damaging to believers of Trump’s stolen election ruse.

Stepien referred to his group inside the Trump administration as “Team Normal.” Sorry, Bill, no one who agreed to work for admitted sexual assaulter Trump is “normal.” Stepien’s attempt to demonstrate that some staffers in the White House knew right from wrong falls flat considering he is still employed by Trump, raking in $10,000 each month since May of 2021.

However, a group of constitution-abiding citizens within Trump’s orbit accepted defeat and unwaveringly told Trump he’d lost the election. They refused to bend to Trump’s nightmarish vision of throwing out legit, democratic election results in favor of authoritarianism. (True patriotism would have been Stepien and his “normals” alerting the Department of Justice about what Trump was up to.)

Apparently, the January 6 Committee is so flush with evidence they were comfortable postponing Wednesday’s hearing, when several former DOJ employees were scheduled to appear.

The Lincoln Memorial represents what’s at stake. (Photo credit The Weekly Opine)

Additional evidence of crimes committed by Trump and his inner circle are waiting to be revealed, like lotto numbers when the jackpot reaches nine figures. After just two hearings reasonable doubt, like Elvis, already left the building. Sane folks know Trump belongs in prison for attempting to overthrow American democracy. So, let’s stop pretending Trump’s standing as a former president somehow protects him from indictment, prosecution, conviction and serving a lifetime prison sentence.

What we have now is some Trump enablers, like passengers desperate for lifeboats on the Titanic, scrambling to rehabilitate their tarnished images. Others hope to swim ashore despite being pulled by strong undercurrents of guilt-proving evidence.

Relative youngsters Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner, with years of life ahead of them, are in resuscitation mode. Others, like Rudy Giuliani, are committed to their insatiable greed, regardless of if they go to their graves with ruined legacies. As Liz Cheney poignantly said last week, the dishonor of unhinged wackos like Giuliani will live forever.

Keep it on the rails

According to various reports, the House Select Committee is not in agreement re: referring criminal charges to the DOJ.

Earlier this week, committee Chairman Rep. Bennie Thompson, (D-Miss), told reporters it’s “not [the] job” of the committee to send criminal referrals to the DOJ. In a bit of contradiction, Vice Chairwoman Rep. Liz Cheney, (R-Wyo.), tweeted the committee has not decided whether to refer criminal charges.

Another committee member, Rep. Elaine Luria, (D-Vir.), believes it is the committee’s responsibility to report criminal activity to the DOJ. Committee member Rep. Adam Schiff, (D-Calif.), told CNN the committee has not reached agreement about a criminal referral, one way or the other.

Hopefully, Attorney General Merrick Garland will bring the gavel down on Trump. (Photo credit The Weekly Opine)

It is troubling the committee is publicly airing disagreement on something as crucial as refering criminal charges. Trump obviously committed crimes. Only through the luxury of white privilege and misguided institutionalism (the DOJ decides former presidents are above prosecution) will Trump avoid criminal charges.

The hearings had just gotten started when a key witness (Stepien) was excused from publicly testifying, just hours before he was to appear on Monday. And then Wednesday’s hearing – featuring witnesses formerly employed at DOJ – was cancelled with no explanation. Uh, committee members, there is no room here for confusion.

A surefire way to squander public interest, and confidence, is behavior that suggests the committee doesn’t fully have its act together. (Confusion also fuels the conspiracy-believing mob.) If the DOJ sniffs that public sentiment is ambivalent about holding Trump accountable, then Attorney General Merrick Garland may let Trump skate free. And that would be the greatest injustice in American political history.

Chairman Thompson, who seems like a nice guy, should not slip into the easy-going, play nice mode frequently displayed by Democrats. This moment calls for a crusher, someone looking to knock Trump’s block off.

Hitting singles, this far into the investigation of Trump’s criminal enterprise, is not acceptable and won’t save democracy. This moment calls for a grand slam. The hearings got off to a rousing start last Thursday. Don’t slack off. (My advice is to return public hearings to primetime.)

Sad sacks

The big mystery remains, will AG Garland do his thing? If it appears Garland will not hold Trump accountable real Americans should emphatically demand otherwise. We the People should not put up with Trump and Co., after nearly bringing down our democratic freedoms, just walking away without severe consequences. There must be criminal accountability for the deaths and destruction that occurred at our most important symbol of democracy on January 6, 2021.

Wearing this cap is the same as wearing a dunce cap. (Photo credit The Weekly Opine)

Unfortunately, there are people still making excuses for Trump. They deny truths that have been factually proven by video, audio, tweets, text messages and live testimony. MAGAs cling to their belief in Trump’s obvious lies, so much so that if Trump claimed the Jacksonville Jaguars won last year’s Super Bowl MAGAs would say it must be so.

If Trump told MAGAs there is a Major League Baseball team named the Mar-a-Lago Authoritarians, numbskull MAGAs would go online to purchase Mar-a-Lago Authoritarian jerseys. If Trump told them he threw a no-hitter against the New York Yankees, MAGAs would line up to buy faux autographed baseballs.

Want proof? Starting with Election Day and continuing until January 6, 2021, Trump raised $250 million for a fake organization named the Official Election Defense Fund. Much of this money was raised on the backs of duped, small donor contributors.

For MAGAs, it’s easier and more convenient to go along with Trump’s lies and ignore what then-Attorney General Bill Barr, and honest Republican election officials, plainly stated (that the election was fair and without fraud). Gathering facts requires effort. Sometimes, the truth hurts.

America’s biggest problem is not gun violence. As we’ve learned throughout the pandemic, America’s biggest problem is we are overpopulated with shamelessly stupid people.