On Thursday, the January 6th select committee held yet another public hearing. The decision for the select committee to hold such one so close to the November midterm elections, highlights the tone deafness of it all. The committee is comprised solely of members picked by Democrats, none by Republicans. The Thursday hearing also took place the same day catastrophic figures on inflation were released, which is what voters are really concerned about.
During commentary provided by a primetime MSNBC panel, however, Nicolle Wallace tried to frame the findings of the January 6 committee as what matters to voters. As NewsBusters' Kevin Tober highlighted, when asked what she made of the hearings, Wallace could hardly have given a more glowing, but also delusional take.
Nicolle Wallace: "I think the committee has been driven, since the beginning, by a true investigative principle, and the politics are clear. Democracy is now a top three issue for all voters, and especially independents. It has political ramifications..." pic.twitter.com/08E3iFxTwI
— Kevin Tober (@KevinTober94) October 14, 2022
"I think the committee has been driven, since the beginning, by a true investigative principles. And the politics are clear," Wallace said, though the point she went on to make was not to highlight how much of a one-sided, political farce the select committee has been from the start. "Democracy is now a top three issue for all voters, and especially independents. I mean it has political ramifications. I'm not saying they live separate from that, but they’ve been driven by the investigative theory of connecting the dots," Wallace added.
Wallace also claimed that "it’s abundantly clear, that they have tied the violence to a premeditated campaign of lies that Trump knew were lies to Trump. I mean that was the—for me, for me that was the aha!"
When it comes to Wallace's claims about democracy being a top issue for voters, most polls show economic issues, such as inflation, as a top issue, with abortion as a distant second.
Polling from NBC News claims that "threats to democracy" are a bigger issue than economic issues, but the problems with such polls have been explained at length. Most tellingly, the issues of "cost of living" and "jobs/economy" were separated on the poll. Inflation is not even listed as an issue.
Further, "threats to democracy" is rather subjective and could have a variety of meanings and need not necessarily have to do with the January 6 select committee hearings, especially not when it comes to Republican respondents who choose such an option.
As Brad Slager highlighted in Thursday's edition of "Riffed from the Headlines," CNN Stephen Collinson did point out how voters care more about the economy, though he treated them like absolute dirt for it in what passed as "analysis."
During the hearing, the members also unanimously voted to subpoena former President Donald Trump. Rachel Maddow, who was leading the panel discussion, claimed "obviously, I wouldn’t have picked, I wouldn’t have put it on my bingo card if I had to pick surprise action today, that it was going to be a subpoena for Trump."
Maddow went on to acknowledge that "I think I, like most, people thought that this was sorta too late in the game for them to try it. I thought maybe they’d announce a criminal referral or something else. Instead, they announced the subpoena and they did so with lots of reference to other legal factors here."
As Katie highlighted in a piece from earlier on Friday, though, this move could quite possibly backfire. It also indeed does seem "too late," especially with how close the next session of Congress is, and with Republicans almost certain to shut it down if they regain control.
Of the nine members, three will for sure not be in Congress next year, including Reps. Stephanie Murphy (D-FL) and Adam Kinzinger (R-IL), who decided to retire rather than lose, and Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY), the committee's vice chair who lost her primary in August. Rep. Elaine Luria (D-VA) is also in danger of losing her seat, in part because of her role on the select committee, as even The New York Times acknowledged.