When last we left the January 6 committee, I assessed that it had reached a point of diminishing returns. It was trying to prove a violent crime against Donald Trump, but it actually did more to establish his defense than inculpate him. In Thursday night’s spectacle, which was supposed to bring down the curtain on this made-for-TV drama but turns out just to have been the season finale — the show is now set to return in September — the committee was back to its more familiar pace: running in place.
That’s because it was back to proving the impeachment case against the former president. The night’s theme was “dereliction of duty.” That’s ironic, not because Trump wasn’t derelict — he most certainly was — but because Trump’s impeachable malfeasance was patent 18 months ago, and House Democrats were derelict in their duty to investigate it and then draft impeachment articles that clearly spelled out his high crimes and misdemeanors.
Comments