Expectations for this year's January 6 committee hearings may have started out low, but by the eighth and final night of summer hearings, both media and viewers had grown accustomed to each hearing being two-plus hours of shocking revelations. Thursday night's hearing, which covered Donald Trump's actions the day of the Capitol insurrection, did not disappoint. As Heather "Digby" Parton recounts, the committee painted a vivid picture of Trump spending hours reveling in the violence he had knowingly unleashed on the Capitol, while making threatening calls to Republican senators, demanding the White House.
Of course, as the months since have shown, he probably didn't need to use violence. Now that they're safe again, nearly all of those Republicans who were furious over the riot have come right back around to kissing Trump's rear. Worse, many of them are helping him plan for the next, more well-organized coup. Some, like Sen. Josh "Running Man" Hawley of Missouri, are in this because they unsubtly long for a fascist state. Others, like Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, seem less enthused about Trump, but clearly feel like keeping their own power means playing nice with Trump, who still has a Svengali-like hold over the GOP base.
