Perhaps this is the ultimate judge on whether the “compelling” testimony and evidence presented by the Jan. 6 committee is, well, not really that compelling.
What would they expect from voters who have been savaged at the gas pump since last year and must buy weekly groceries that continue to jump in price month after month? The flip side to that is while Democrats are preoccupied with litigating the J6 protest at the Capitol, Americans have moved on. If there was compelling evidence to charge someone with a crime, then do so. If there’s evidence to lay the blame directly at Donald Trump’s feet, where is it? The narrative that’s been created is full of holes that have been filled in with partisan witnesses driven by a hyper-partisan committee of House members who declared their findings before they even started an investigation.
Now that the committee voted unanimously to subpoena Trump, what new revelations will we learn? Not much.
It should come as no surprise that America tuned out months ago but that hasn’t stopped some media outlets from offering crocodile tears lamenting that fact:
The panel returns to the public eye Thursday after its late-summer break with a televised hearing that sources tell CNN will serve as a pre-midterms warning that the ex-President is a clear and present danger to free elections.
But are the American people listening? And do the committee’s efforts to undermine Trump’s cadre of election denier candidates in 2022 and vow to ensure he never again tastes presidential power have any chance of success?
Polls repeatedly show that voters see the economy – a far more visceral issue in daily life than the threat to American democracy – as their top concern. Their anxiety was explained by the latest inflation data. Grocery bills are just a pain right now. Frozen potato products are up 10%, pork products that are not sausages are 5.5% more expensive, according to US Producer Price Index data released on Wednesday. While it would be too simplistic to say voters are more preoccupied with the cost of French fries than the price of democratic freedoms, it wouldn’t be far from the mark.
New CNN/SSRS poll numbers published Thursday show that the economy and inflation are especially concerning to voters in competitive congressional districts. While 59% of registered voters nationwide call the economy extremely important to their vote, that rises to 67% in these districts. The share calling inflation that important rises from 56% to 64%.
The overused drumbeat of “democracy is under attack” became a punch line for Democrats trying to fearmonger and it didn’t work. It didn’t work back in 2021 in the off-year Governor’s race in Virginia and it isn’t working in 2022 around the country in the various midterm races.
If “democracy” is on the ballot, Democrats haven’t presented compelling evidence of it to the American people.
What is on the ballot, of course, is the economy, inflation, gas prices, energy policy, foreign policy, and a long list of ways the country is worse off under Joe Biden’s leadership than under former Trump. This is the simple reason why Americans care more about the cost of french fries than whatever slanted nonsense the J6 committee has produced this week.
Let’s put this another way. The events of Jan. 6, 2021, were such an existential threat to American democracy that the J6 committee decided to take a “late-summer break” away from all the action. Democracy, it seems, would be fine while they go on vacation.
If there was much substance to be produced from these hearings it would’ve happened already. Instead, it’s showmanship over substance which is why they’ve been held in primetime viewing hours and featured headlines of “EXCLUSIVE VIDEO” that end up being videos about things everyone already knew or has seen from different angles.
So, yes, Americans care more about the cost of frozen potatoes than they do about whatever Liz Cheney has to tell them this week. That’s not even breaking news.
