My hopes were dashed; my expectations were confirmed. Yeah, I was pretty certain Trumpists would not be moved by the televised hearings of the House Select Committee on the January 6th Capitol riot. But I hoped.
So, the morning before the hearing, I sent an email to a Trumpist friend asking if she would watch the hearing. She equivocated, which I interpreted as a no. So, this morning I sent her another email recapping the highlights of the hearing.
Her reply confirmed my expectations. She wouldn’t say whether she’d watched the proceedings, but the message was easy enough to interpret. What she did say was that she would pray about whether to watch any of the remaining hearings. After decades within evangelicalism, I can interpret that message just as easily. “No, I will not watch a bunch of socialist libs attack my messiah. God will tell me to watch Tucker Carlson or Newsmax instead.”
And this Trumpist friend is probably the most reasonable Trumpie I know. In that regard, she's something of a bellwether. If she refuses to watch the abundant, jaw-dropping evidence and testimonies from eyewitnesses, then I’m confident in surmising that the hearings will, sadly, only serve to further divide the nation.
On one side are those who still believe in objective truth, in what their eyes plainly see and ears plainly hear. On the other side are those who have become so obsessed with their uninformed faith—and with their new messiah—that for them, truth cannot be discerned through one’s senses combined with logic. For these folks, using logic and reason to assess the validity of a question or proposition is no less than blasphemy—unless, somehow, logic and reason reach their pre-determined conclusion.
And the Trumpists’ pre-determined conclusions are as follows:
· Nefarious liberal factions stole the election from their messiah, the rightful president.
· The crowd gathered in DC on the sixth was made up of peaceful Trump-loving protestors who would never resort to violence.
· Any violence that erupted at the Capitol was caused by a few Antifa and BLM commie agitators.
· Anyone who tries to convince me that my President Trump did anything unlawful or immoral is a despicable liar or is deluded.
So, regarding public opinion, I expect nothing to change as a result of these hearings. Sadly, for too many Americans, ignorance is bliss. And that will remain so until their blissful naivety boomerangs back on them. But that will be too late.