Prime time

Liz Cheney, on Trump's effort to remain in office:

     "Tonight, I say this to our Republican colleagues who are defending the indefensible: there will come a day when Donald Trump is gone—but your dishonor will remain."

CNN Headline

Tucker Carlson, on the "forgettably minor outbreak" at the Capitol:     

"You know it tells you a lot about the priorities of a ruling class that the rest of us are getting yet another lecture about January 6th tonight from our moral inferiors, no less. An outbreak of mob violence, a forgettably minor outbreak by recent standards, that took place more than a year and a half ago, but they've never stopped talking about it."

Liz Cheney was the star last night. She is a Republican and her evidence was the testimony of other Republicans, including former Attorney General Bill Barr and Trump's daughter, Ivanka. Cheney is smart, decisive, and clear. She looks and sounds like a leader in full command of the facts. She laid out a case showing parallel plans for Trump to stay in office notwithstanding the election results. He pressured election officials to change the results in the states. He pressured state legislatures to overturn results, since the election officials wouldn't do it. He pressured Vice President Pence to toss out results, since the legislatures wouldn't do it. He tried to replace Justice Department appointees who wouldn't lie to justify overturning the election He encouraged the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers to intimidate Congress into doing so since the other plans failed. January 6 wasn't a one-day event, she said. It was a long multi-part plan of law and violence, and Trump was at the center of it.

Her call for Constitutional integrity was center stage everywhere except where it matters. It wasn't anywhere at all on Fox. They had a different story. The prime time hearings are a Democratic and mainstream media plot to distract Americans from the deep trouble that Biden and Democrats brought us. We have inflation and high gasoline prices. We have an assassination plot against Justice Kavanaugh likely inspired by Chuck Schumer. Why isn't the media covering that story, they ask? We have Hunter Biden's laptop to discuss, but the rest of the media downplays that. There is a video of Nancy Pelosi's husband's DUI arrest that the Napa, California DA won't release. We have a crisis at the southern border the media doesn't cover. We have Kamala Harris who is a disaster, but the rest of the media doesn't cover that, either. We have Biden going on Jimmy Kimmel and looking old, senile and vacant, and Democrats won't admit it and talk about it. We have a bunch of whiny Democrats making a mountain out of a molehill on January 6. 

These aren't the Watergate hearings and they won't have the same result. Republican primary election voters aren't watching. Republican elected officials are not open to knowing what the president knew and when he knew it. Most of them know full well that Trump misbehaved dishonestly--dangerously--but they won't say it aloud. No use stepping in front of a stampede. 

Liz Cheney will look very good in the history books, but for now she looks like an outcast. Democrats respect her but won't vote for her because, after all, she is a committed, dedicated, genuine conservative. That earns her no credit with Republicans because she embarrasses them. She has the integrity and courage they don't dare demonstrate. The stampede is still running.

Won't there be a smoking gun that finally gets through to GOP voters? There are multiple smoking guns. Americans saw them live on TV and heard the audio tapes months ago. A majority of GOP voters don't care. GOP voters don't necessarily believe Trump, but they like him. They know Trump is a scamp and con man, as they see it, committing petty crimes, but he is their scamp and con man, and he fights Democrats. They have their fingers in their ears and they are sticking with him.