(FiveNation.com)- It should be no surprise that the hearing that took place on Thursday night has been rated outstanding by all the people you would expect to find it outstanding.
The video footage of the riot that was edited together and served as the night’s focal point was, to be fair, quite shocking. This was for the simple reason that the events of the day were, indeed, so terrible. However, it did not shed new light or bring anything fresh to the table. This is true even though the majority of the film had never been seen before.
They could show hours more of unearthed footage. If it’s of people smashing windows and sitting behind desks, it does little in the way of fact-finding.
In the meantime, Chairman Bennie Thompson was a continual damper on what was intended to be a fiery hearing. To put it nicely and soft-soap, Thompson is not an engaging communicator. If a sleeping pill came to life, it would take the form of Thomspon.
On the other side, Liz Cheney is knowledgeable in her field, if not abrasive and strident. Despite her unlikeable vibe, she has at least managed to present a case that some would find quite damaging to Trump.
The testimony from Trump insiders indicating that the data they saw indicated he had lost and that there was no evidence of fraud was the most compelling part of the presentation.
Not that anyone is becoming convinced one way or the other at this point. Many circles still debate about what happened in the dead of night after crucial battleground states were told to pause the count.
In the end, if this was the culmination of the committee’s public work, then it is not unexpected that it will not have much of an impact and will not in any way alter the course of the midterm elections as Democrats expect.
To suggest that anyone will see the footage or hear the testimony and, at this point, be so unaware of what went on that day that it changes their vote seems like pie-in-the-sky.
And to be clear, the January 6th committee is not a fact-finding effort. It is a political ad.
