Matthew & Matthews

I'm feeling good about this hearing.

The J6 Committee has done a stellar job - pacing, narrative-weaving, presenting the arc, PR.

Even if everything to now is not black-and-white in terms of tfg's centrality - motive, intent, "mens rea" - the fact that at 2:24 (or any other time) he could have called off the murderous mob - IN FACT WAS THE ONLY ONE WHO COULD - but instead sent a tweet egging them on, as they were invading the capitol and beaing in police officers' heads is undeniable, and puts all that preceded it - and followed - in context.

There's a reason the committee built to this point and saved it for its preliminarily final hearing. In primetime. On a Thurday. Valuable real estate.

Gift article (no paywall).

https://wapo.st/3uWOX00


Snip:

THE PLUM LINE

Opinion A new Jan. 6 witness shows why Trump’s 2:24 p.m. tweet is lethal
By Greg Sargent
Columnist
|
July 19, 2022 at 11:59 a.m. EDT

This week, the House select committee on Jan. 6 will hold a prime-time hearing designed to demonstrate Donald Trump’s depraved and venal conduct as the violence raged on the day itself. If you wanted to boil down the significance of this into two sentences, here’s one way you might do it:

During his final days as president, Donald Trump launched an extraordinarily corrupt effort to persuade his vice president, Mike Pence, to abuse his official duty in order to help Trump cling to power illegitimately and probably illegally.

When that pressure campaign failed, Trump turned to a violent mob as the weapon that might finish the job for him.

...

That 2:24 tweet represents a key moment, when the procedural coup and the mob violence became one and the same story. In it, Trump ripped Pence for lacking the “courage” to delay the congressional count of presidential electors, suggesting this would have allowed states to revisit the voting and appoint electors for Trump, which was his underlying coup scheme.


End.

I re-watched a couple interviews with Mary Trump last night. She also noted that he is a sociopath, and prone to taking desperate measures when under pressure. This hearing will, I think, be the most explosive yet -- and the J6 Committee is the very best congressional committe I've ever seen.

There are, of course, numerous other very important issues confronting us. But this is the key to our getting in a position where we can effectively deal with them. And it is why our opposition will attempt to distract us.

causes TFG to choke on his hamberder.