We have seen three major investigations (and many minor ones) of Donal Trump including two impeachment hearings and, of course, the ongoing investigation of the January 6th protests. In none of the cases were they successful in convicting Trump. Few people expected them to be.
It is not just Donald Trump, though. Anyone associated with Donald Trump has been subject to scrutiny, and many of them unjustly landed in jail for “crimes” seemingly made up in the spur of the moment. The FBI raid of Roger Stone comes to mind, about 25 heavily armed agents were sent to arrest one 70-year-old man. Supreme Court Justice Bret Kavanaugh was also put through this ringer with fabricated charges. so many examples, so little time.
These all turned out to be examples of grotesque theater, investigations designed to sway the public and further the rhetoric of the Democratic Party. This is the latest form of campaigning for the Democratic Party, or, if you want to be objective, it is flat-out propaganda.
But it does work. It fires up the “base” and with the cooperation of mainstream media, at least some of the public is persuaded to believe the badness of the subject. It probably gets them votes.
But it seems the GOP is planning some payback. And if the House turns Republican as is expected in the November election, they will get their way.
But what can they investigate?
The first target will be Nancy Pelosi and the formation of the Jan 6 Committee. Republicans were not allowed a choice as to who would be on this “bipartisan” committee and have zero input in the ongoing show. It has been the worst kind of abuse of power and corruption of due process from the start.
Perhaps next will be the exit from Afghanistan that left the country in shambles, with billions worth of U.S. weapons, trapping U.S. citizens behind the lines, and leaving any allies we had at the mercy of a terrorist regime. This was the worst blow to our international reputation since Saigon.
Perhaps someone will finally get around to investigating Hunter Biden’s business dealings and payoffs from China, Ukraine and much more.
Perhaps Joe Bidens involvement in facilitating and receiving rewards from his son’s business dealings that seem to have included payoffs from China, Ukraine and much more.
Perhaps they will launch an investigation into the handling of our southern border, such a disaster that Texas is considering declaring its own war.
Perhaps they will investigate the formation of the DHS Disinformation Board, in my opinion the worst and most Un-Constitutional act in many generations.
Hopefully, they will investigate the insider trading of Nancy Pelosi that seems to have been responsible for a good deal of her family’s wealth.
“It’s not something where we’re having to drum up, ‘OK, what are we going to do?’ It’s more of a limiting factor of, we only have 50 weeks a year,” said Rep. Michael Cloud (R-Texas).
The Republicans have historically not been that good at this kind of theater. Obama had plenty of corruption to investigate (remember the IRS scandal?), and they didn’t make a show of it. Hillary’s scandals were off the charts. Even the Bill Clinton investigations ended up producing little. And, of course, the Republicans will not have the benefit of an enthusiastic liberal media.
I would really prefer that it not be necessary for our elected officials to spend all of their time investigating each other.
But at least maybe we will get some balance.