What kind of impact will the Jan. 6 committee have on former President Donald Trump? The hearings uncovered substantial details that were not previously known about the Capitol riot. Testimony from Mark Meadows’ former aide Cassidy Hutchinson indicated members of the Trump White House knew the protests on Jan. 6, 2021 could turn violent and did nothing to stop it. The committee also had witnesses expose the pressure campaign from the West Wing on then-Vice President Mike Pence to get him to interfere with the election certification process. Despite the revelations, Straight Arrow News contributor David Pakman does not expect the Justice Department to bring charges against Trump. He says if the hearings lead to any fallout on Trump, it will come from the voters.
As I’ve previously talked about, these coming midterm elections could be the most important that I can remember. And one of the reasons that they will be important is that they will potentially answer the question, “Is there accountability?”
Okay, even if the Department of Justice is a “no” on prosecution, even if there’s not going to be anything formal, have the American people — and not all of them, there will be tens of millions who still love Trump — but have enough of the American people decided there can be no more of this? There needs to be something that happens and we’re gonna vote all of them out. We’re not voting for any of these Trumpist lunatics.
We don’t know the answer to either, but those outcomes may set up very different-looking 2024s. If the Justice Department does nothing and the American people are sort of like, “Eh, okay, yeah, maybe something went on or maybe it was a witch hunt, but I’m voting for Trumpists in 2022,” this will embolden Donald Trump, make it more likely that he will run in 2024, make it more likely, arguably, that he will win. I mean, if people show in ‘22 that they’re willing to vote for Trumpists still, then it’s completely plausible that they would be willing to vote for Trump again in 2024. So that wouldn’t be so good.
But also we will be empowering individuals in 2022 who could influence the outcome in 2024. Pennsylvania gubernatorial is a perfect example. In Pennsylvania, Doug Mastriano is the Republican nominee. Josh Shapiro is the Democratic nominee. Josh Shapiro is just a normal, boring Democrat. He wouldn’t try to steal any elections. He would just be the governor. Whereas Doug Mastriano has made it clear he believes the big lie that Donald Trump actually won in 2020 but had the election stolen from him. He would act to the extent that he’s able, if he were governor, to try to give the Republican candidate the Pennsylvania electoral votes in 2024, no matter what the election result is. So these aren’t isolated questions.