The chair of the committee said that future hearings would focus on the particulars of the conspiracy and the careful construction of Trump's lies. This was not a normal protest. This was not a normal election loss. After the January 6 Capitol assault, Donald Trump ended America's tradition of peaceful transitions of presidential power.
Donald Trump embarked on a concerted effort to use the tools of the presidency and the US government to overturn the legitimate, authentic election results, even though his own staff told him that there was no there.
Trump lied to the people. He tried to make the Justice Department believe that he was lying. State election officials were pressured to change their election results. In order to overturn his loss, his team created and sent to Washington invalid slates of electors. He invited supporters and armed groups to join him in DC on January 6 and promised that it would be wild. He pressured the Vice President to violate his oath and refuse to certify the election results. He didn't summon federal aid as the Capitol and legislative branch remained under assault for hours. The military was ordered to respond and secure the Capitol by the Vice President after he hid at a dock inside the complex.
It is the most audacious, calculated, and unconstitutional plot America has faced in its history.
The committee was able to re-frame the national conversation and focus on the true horror of January 6. The Justice Department is conducting a slow- moving parallel investigation that has seen hundreds of low-level indictments and charges against January 6 rioters. It hasn't penetrated Donald Trump's motley collection of enablers, grifters, and hangers-on yet.
Despite the shocking clarity of the committee's opening presentation, it is not certain whether it will be able to break through America's political divide. Fox News, alone among the major networks, refused to air the hearings live and instead allowed its host Tucker Carlson, who increasingly features openly white nationalist positions, to spout venom to his millions of prime-time viewers during an hour long show.
It is unsurprising that Fox decided to double down on Tucker Carlson. As Donald Trump built up the Big Lie and set the kindling for January 6 to undermine the legitimacy of then- President-elect Joe Biden's victory, the network decided to embrace Trump's lies.
The challenge America now faces, heading into next week's follow up hearings, is that no one knows what part of Donald Trump's story we're living in. The committee wants America to see January 6 as a turning point instead of a warning that went ignored.
It is said that there is no such thing as an unsuccessful coup. It's just a practice coup.
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