Some of this sentiment reflects how conservative media outlets have covered – or perhaps not – the blockade. January 6 events mentioned Four times as often On CNN and MSNBC as on Fox News, according to an analysis of TV news segments. It certainly reflects how partisanship has become dominant in our politics.
But these beliefs also show how difficult it is for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to convince large parts of the country that her select committee is conducting an honest, nonpartisan investigation into the January 6 riots. Congressional Republicans could opt out of participating in a bipartisan investigation into one of the most shocking events in the history of American politics with little fear of a backlash from their base. In fact, many of their constituents don’t want to hear much about the January 6 attack at all.
It is clear that others are looking for their leaders to defend the actions of the rioters that day. That’s partly why Mrs. Pelosi Rejected two of Representative Kevin McCarthy’s picks McCarthy, the minority leader, withdrew all of his GOP nominations from the committee.
These two choices, Representatives Jim Banks of Indiana and Jim Jordan of Ohio, had He openly expressed his hostility to the commission’s message Trafficked in editorial history around the siege, they may be physical witnesses to the events leading up to that day.
Did keeping Mr. Jordan and Mr. Banks on the committee help build credibility for the effort among Republican voters? This seems unlikely, given that both have already announced their intention to undermine the efforts.
Ms. Pelosi could still argue that her team is bipartisan. It will include Representative Liz Cheney, a Republican from Wyoming, and reports suggest she may add Rep. Adam Kinzinger of Illinois, who is also a Republican. Both lawmakers are being reviled by the party base for attacking Trump’s efforts to nullify the election and are unlikely to be seen by many Republicans as reliable messengers.
Meanwhile, Mr. McCarthy vowed to conduct his own investigation.
So after months of negotiations, the end result is likely to be two bodies, one led by Democrats and one led by Republicans. It is a position that sums up our divided political moment: Whatever the process, testimony or outcome, voters from the opposing party are unlikely to trust the results of either committee. And coming to any kind of national consensus about what happened on that awful day sounds as much fiction as any false conspiracy theory.
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