All Over The TV

      And it doesn't look good for the former President.  If you're not watching the January 6 Committee hearings, you are missing more than just aspirational political speeches.

      Oh, they're fine speeches and not overlong, full of noble ideas.  But most of the hearings consist of sworn testimony from former members of the Trump Administration, the Trump 2020 campaign, Donald Trump's immediate family and various Federal employees, plus actual audio and video recorded on January 6, 2020: plain factual information and some first-hand reactions.  That stuff is difficult to spin.  It's unpolished.  It adds up to a very dark picture.

      I was never a fan of President Trump.  I thought he approached the Presidency with the tact and depth of a real-estate promoter and reality TV star.  But we've had less-than-stellar Presidents before, and they've done okay.  The office tends to mold the man, the support system can fill in his lacks.  I didn't see four years of crude trade protectionism (seriously, has the guy never heard, "When goods don't cross borders, soldiers will?"), clumsy diplomacy and bombast as a huge problem.  Presidents are usually more sizzle than steak and I rarely find them inspiring figures of greatness.  Barfing on diplomats or falling down stairs?  Yes, that's typical of Presidents during my adult life so far, and what the hell, we survive 'em.

      That was before he began to beat the "stolen election" drum, even in advance of the November election.  After it, he doubled down.  Scheming to hang on to power and exposing his own civilian political partners to imminent physical harm?  Launching an assault on Congress and the Capitol building?  Unprecedented.  The committee hearings show that it was deliberate.  A feature, not a bug.

      If you passed up watching, you have deprived yourself of factual information.  You might want to rectify that.  Hint: social media is not a source of facts.  Echo chambers are not a source of facts.  Glib talking-head commentators are not a source of facts.  The committee served up video and audio from the events themselves, along with eyewitness testimony and verifiable timelines of who did what, when.  One man did nothing to stop the violence at the Capitol for over three hours, while adding to the anger of the mob.  One man -- the then-President of the United States, Donald Trump.  His behavior was inexcusable.