Preaching to the choir

There are few things as irritating as a preacher who just won’t end his sermon until someone, anyone, finally steps forward to confess and repent, regardless of how far most minds long ago drifted off to thoughts of football, afternoon naps and Sunday dinner.

That’s what the tedious Jan. 6 committee feels like, with committee members determined to convince everyone, no matter how tired, disinterested or skeptical, that former president Donald Trump is evil incarnate, that his followers are dangerously wayward enablers, and that renouncing them both is the only road to salvation.

Most of Thursday’s presentation was a monotonous rehash of what committee members apparently felt were their most damning and convincing details, all leading to the clear political stunt of issuing a subpoena for Trump, which, if it were a serious move, would have been done at the beginning of the hearings, not the end.

Trump’s efforts to reverse the results of the election, despite court losses and against the advice of most close advisers, was shameful. Trump’s refusal to participate in the peaceful transfer of power was unpatriotic, dishonorable and dangerous.

But we knew those truths on Jan. 6, 2021. No congressional committee was needed to reveal them. I doubt the hearings have persuaded very many people to accept them who previously did not. So now that the preacher seems finally out of breath, what was the point of it all?

Politics was the point, and from the Democrats’ point of view, that’s entirely understandable. The hearings helped Democrats keep voters focused on Trump and the events of Jan. 6.

The country’s top media outlets have investigated Jan. 6 ad nauseam. The Justice Department has carried out hundreds of investigations related to the Capitol incursion. But the nature of low-level prosecutions of mostly anonymous Americans for crimes such as obstructing official proceedings or even assault don’t generate the political headlines necessary to sway voters. Democrats knew more was needed.

The notion that the committee became “bipartisan” because of Republicans Liz Cheney (Wyo.) and Adam Kinzinger (Ill.) was never taken seriously by most of the GOP faithful, as demonstrated by GOP primary voters resoundingly rejecting Cheney’s reelection. Kinzinger spared himself similar humiliation by standing down from running again.

With a panel of compliant committee members, nary a contrary word was uttered, no challenge raised to any witness testimony, no comment from the panel veered from the preapproved queries and conclusions snaking across the teleprompter. Every hearing was routinely wrapped up with grim-faced pronouncements of guilt and dire warnings that one of the country’s major political parties poses a threat to democracy. Cheney even went so far as to declare in August that witness testimony amounted to “confessions.” What nonsense.

Ratings show that MSNBC has consistently drawn the most viewers for the hearings, a clear indicator that left-leaning partisans who have long hated Trump and want him perp-walked to prison are the hearings’ fan base.

For the most part, the committee has been preaching to the choir, with many of the rest of us praying for the sermon to finally end.