This Time Will Be Different?

Last week I wrote about the Jan. 6 select committee holding public hearings, I was less than optimistic about the outcome.

I noted that every single damn time we've gotten Donald Trump dead to rights on some stupid and/or criminal shit, "every single god damn time, Donald Trump slouches towards the exits facing no fucking consequences for anything."

I am the very least reluctant and the very worst loathed to ever expect this time will be different. 

The constant drumbeat of one singular message comes through loud and clear: whether through malevolence, delusion or just plain stupidity, Donald Trump consistently rejected anyone who wasn't telling him what he wanted to hear, that the election was rigged and Trump really won it.  

In testimony before the committee, a long line of people from Trump's inner circle has asserted that any effort to provide a factual accounting of the 2020 election was rejected.  

Former Attorney General William Barr told the committee that Trump was increasingly “detached from reality” as he asserted, again and again, that the election was stolen.

Trump responded to Barr's statement with "He sucked!" 

Ivanka Trump, Li'l Donnie's own daughter, agreed with the assessment that the election results were that Trump lost.

Not surprisingly, Li'l Donnie threw Ivanka under a bus. 

But the parade goes on, person after person who assert that there was no credible evidence to support Trump's claims of fraud and person after person who assert that Trump wasn't listening to any of them. Meanwhile, Rudy Giuliani had outsized influence with Donald Trump because Rudy was willing to indulge in every single crackpot conspiracy theory to support Trump's delusions. 

The upshot to anyone paying attention is a portrait of a deranged individual who let his own petty ego stir up an enraged crowd to attack the Capitol.   

The problem is who is paying attention? 

Anyone with two working brain cells and a modicum of some common sense is hearing this testimony and thinking, "Yeah, that sounds about right. That sound just like Donald Trump's standard bullshit."

Anyone with zero working brain cells and zilch in the way of common sense is hearing this testimony and thinking, "But the election was rigged and Trump's victory was stolen and Trump had every right to do something about it."   

I have no faith that the scales will fall from the eyes of the MAGA faithful. 

But if (and it's a mighty big if and nothing short of a miracle) the MAGA faithful could see their great leader for the feckless and cowardly scam artist he is, maybe, just maybe I can dare hope this time will be different. 

But I fear that my faith in honesty and clarity and justice is not as strong as the faith of the MAGA supporters in their beloved leader.