Trump: lying, or mental?

Democrats hired a network executive to produce its January 6 hearings as, well, entertainment.

In entertainment, you want to lead with sensation, to create buzz. If possible, you want to save the best for last because the last thing is what the audience best remembers.

Last week’s hearing did not deliver promised explosive revelations that would, in the words of Committee Chair Bennie Thompson, place Donald J. Trump at the center of a conspiracy to stymie the peaceful transfer of power. 

It did not. 

There were a few new tidbits, particularly from former Attorney General Bill Barr, but no smoking gun to place Trump on the bull’s eye.

The Monday hearing — here we go again — would have, in the words of CNN anchor Wolf Blitzer, “potentially explosive” revelations, starting with the reluctant leadoff witness, Trump campaign manager and loyalist, Bill Stepien. 

But 45 minutes before the committee’s start, the leadoff witness said he would not show up, citing a “family emergency,” reportedly a pregnancy. (He’d better be prepared to produce a birth certificate.)

So that blew up in the committee’s face, a classic example of the committee stepping on a rake.

Let’s be honest: The goal of the Democrat-packed committee is to hang Trump, and they hope the best rope will be the words of the people around him. That’s the hope.

If they can do that, they can demand the Department of Justice take the evidence and file charges against the former president. 

If they can’t prove direct conspiracy, what the committee wants to prove is that Trump knew he lost and lied to stir up his supporters, which resulted in the attack on the Capitol.

Can the committee prove what was in his mind? Can it prove he did not believe he had lost when he has so many really weird ideas? When the Pennsylvania Senate race was in doubt, Trump told Mehmet Oz to declare victory. Lying? Or mental?

Here’s how Trump rolls — first, he declares the election was rigged. Then, if he doesn’t win, he rejects the outcome.

Is he lying? Is he mental? It’s hard to say, and if it’s hard to say, can you get a conviction out of a jury?

What I am writing here is the reality of the degree of difficulty, not an exoneration of Trump. 

So, minus the star witness, the wrench in the works, the committee started 46 minutes late.

One new tidbit was the existence of Team Normal, those who knew the claims of fraud were “bullshit,” in the term of AG Bill Barr, and and Team Rudy, named after the former mayor of New York City, described as “intoxicated” by Stepien when advising Trump he should claim victory, even before all the votes had been counted. 

I’d be astounded if Rudy ever gets another client, other than the QAnon shaman, or a Proud Boy.

One lowlight for Fox News was former political editor Chris Stirewalt, who was fired by Fox after correctly predicting that Arizona would go for Joe Biden.

Stirewalt explained that his unit was closely watching five critical states and their analysis proved the votes were valid.

He said his unit “took pains” to explain to viewers that because few Republicans vote by mail, and many Democrats do, it was likely the early returns would show Trump ahead, and later mail returns would be heavily Democratic. Trump ignored that, or used it as “proof” of “rigging.” 

Almost every Trump loyalist we saw Monday agreed that Trump had lost. The plain facts are that Trump had lost, but Trump is often impervious to facts. He can be, as Barr said, “detached from reality.”

In a video clip, former White House adviser Eric Herschman irritably recounted having to go though crazy conspiracy theories involving Germans, Italians, Venezuelans.

Former Republican U.S. Attorney for northern Georgia Bjay Pak examined claims of fraud in Georgia and said there were none.

Famous Republican voting expert Ben Ginsberg said there  was “no credible evidence of fraud,” and Trump did have his day in court but could not convince a judge he had a credible claim.

As to Trump’s claim that “bad things happen in Philadelphia,” former City Commissioner Al Schmidt, a Republican, reported that there were no bad things at the ballot box — and received death threats.

OK. It is indisputable that Trump lost. We can’t be sure that he knew he lost, that he lied in bad faith.

As I asked earlier — lying or mental?

But lying or being unbalanced are not federal charges.

The committee has yet to prove that Trump actively lied to instigate the attack on the Capitol.

More hearings to come.