Capitol Hill protest, January 6, 2021. Not to be used without permission.
Things aren’t looking too great for the Democrat’s Select Committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol protest. In fact, they aren’t looking so great for Democrats overall. The left has been counting on the committee’s hearings as a way to attack former President Donald Trump and possibly mitigate the damage the party will take in the upcoming congressional elections, but it appears the public is just not interested.
Politico correspondent Betsy Woodruff Swan said the quiet part out loud during a panel discussion on NBC’s “Meet the Press NOW,” in which she claimed two Democratic lawmakers indicated that they were aware that the American public isn’t concerned about the Jan. 6 hearings. The panel was discussing a recent Quinnipiac poll analyzing attitudes about the riot at the US Capitol building and Trump’s supposed role in the incident. It asked if respondents thought the former president “truly believed there was voter fraud” and if he “deliberately spread false information.”
Host Chuck Todd asked Swan, “Does the January 6th hearing break through at all? Is this more proof that it does not?”
“I don’t think it does,” Swan replied. “I’ve talked to two separate Democratic members of Congress over the last couple of weeks about January 6th, obviously can’t say who, and both of them have said offhandedly, nobody gives a bleep about January 6th when they’re talking about their districts and the way that elections play out.”
Swan continued, insisting that Jan. 6 is an “important issue” but acknowledged that it is not a “top-tier voting issue.” She explained:
“The reality is – obviously, it’s a very important issue. Obviously – like I’ve been covering this nonstop for the last year. It’s important, it’s a key part of understanding American history and the democratic trajectory that this country is on. It is also true at the same time and not at all contradictory that it’s not a top-tier voting issue for people who are figuring out who they’re going to support during the midterms. Top-tier issues are material concerns. How are people paying their mortgages? How much does it cost to get milk and bread? How much does it cost to get gas?”
The journalist added, “Do these hearings result in different electoral outcomes for Democrats? I have yet to see any actual evidence that they do.”
Democrats and their comrades in the activist media have been using the riot to smear Trump and conservatives since around five minutes after it occurred. Leftists have accused the former president of inciting the violence and have even attempted to implicate Republican lawmakers in the affair. Right-leaning politicians and media members, while condemning the riot, have excoriated Democrats, accusing them of politicizing the matter.
The size of the hearings’ audience seems to bear out Swan’s statements. Ratings for the televised proceedings have been quite low. The Hill reported that the first hearing did attract nearly 20 million viewers, which some in the media touted as a real indicator that they were resonating with voters. But in context, almost 20 million across a dozen networks isn’t all that great.
The report in The Hill continued:
“For example, the evening newscasts on ABC, NBC, and CBS draw an average of 18-20 million viewers per night. So, when we hear that almost 20 million people watched the Jan. 6 hearings across ABC, NBC, CBS and CNN, MSNBC and Fox Business, along with six other networks, suddenly that viewership doesn’t look so hot.
More context: President Biden’s State of the Union address earlier this year was watched by nearly 40 million people, or about twice as many as watched the opening act of these hearings.”
The reason why most Americans don’t have Jan. 6 on their minds is no mystery. It’s difficult to think about a riot that happened over a year ago while people are trying to figure out how they will afford gas and groceries. People care more about what their children are being taught in schools than the actions of a group of fringe rioters. The public is more worried about violent criminals in their communities than about MAGA hat-wearing rioters sacking a government building.
Unfortunately for the Democrats, the issues that are most important to Americans happen to be the areas in which they are failing the most, so it makes sense that they would use Jan. 6 as a red herring. But if the numbers are any indication, their gambit is not working out too well.
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