Chad Pergram recaps Jan. 6 committee's first primetime hearing
Fox News chief congressional correspondent Chad Pergram reports from Capitol Hill.
The January 6 Commission is a Democratic campaign ad, a thinly veiled partisan exercise — aired in primetime, with the cooperation of a liberal press — to bolster a failed Joe Biden presidency.
But rather than ignore it or look to the future, Donald Trump, the King Lear of Mar-a-Lago, decided to Tweet — er, Truth — yet another statement confirming that he refuses to accept reality. "January 6th was not simply a protest," he wrote, "it represented the greatest movement in the history of our Country to Make America Great Again."
It wasn’t, of course. It was a national shame. One that neither Democrats nor Trump can stop obsessing over. It’s time for Republicans to move on.
This isn’t 2016, when the country was sleepwalking toward a Hillary Clinton coronation, and Trump was the only one pugnacious enough to say it doesn’t have to be this way.
TRUMP CALLS JAN. 6 HEARING ‘TOTALLY PARTISAN,’ SAYS IVANKA HAD ‘CHECKED OUT’
He refused to accept that the southern border should be lawless and that China should be allowed to steal jobs. He knew, unapologetically, that the economy flourished under low taxes and little government interference. He pulled off one of the most jaw-dropping upsets in American political history, and — though the liberal media will never admit it — oversaw a term of mostly peace and prosperity.
But Trump has become a prisoner of his own ego. He can’t admit his Tweeting and narcissism turned off millions. He won’t stop insisting that 2020 was "stolen" even though he’s offered no proof that it’s true.
Respected officials like former Attorney General Bill Barr call his rants "nonsense." This isn’t just about Liz Cheney. Mitch McConnell, Betsy DeVos, Mark Meadows — they all knew Trump was delusional. His own daughter and son-in-law testified it was bull.
Trump’s response? He insults Barr, and dismisses Ivanka as "checked out." He clings to more fantastical theories, such as Dinesh D’Souza’s debunked "2,000 Mules," even as recounts in Arizona, Georgia and Wisconsin confirm Trump lost.
Meanwhile, reports that Trump was pleased that the Jan. 6 crowd chanted for Vice President Mike Pence to be hanged — a truly reprehensible sentiment — makes him unworthy for the office. Trump can’t look past 2020. Let him remain there.
Look forward! The 2024 field is rich. You have Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, former UN ambassador Nikki Haley . . . the list goes on. All candidates who embrace conservative policies without the preoccupations of the Don.
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Consider: Even if Trump, at 78, managed to win the presidency in 2024, who would work for him, now that he’s betrayed every competent person on his former staff?
The motivations of the Democrats are purely political, but that doesn’t make the events of January 6 right. The best argument Trump’s people can cling to is that the Capitol building wasn’t properly secured. The committee would look far less partisan by scrutinizing these claims. But what’s the logic? You knew Trump was going to incite a mob, so you should have brought in more troops? Trump himself doesn’t deny that he wished the rioters had succeeded in overturning the election.
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Donald Trump lost in 2020. Joe Biden is a disaster as president. Both are true. The nation has been through enough pain and mismanagement for a generation. We need a fresh start.
Tune out the Jan. 6 hearings and binge-watch the new season of "Stranger Things." Unsubscribe from Trump’s daily emails begging for money. Then pick your favorite from a new crop of conservatives. Look to 2022, and 2024, and a new era. Let’s make America sane again.
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