Mediaboss Marketing

The Jan. 6 committee has produced an unintended public benefit. Democrats wanted it to tie the Republican Party inextricably to the Capitol riot and to the recklessness of former President Donald Trump. But it did the opposite.

Before getting into the unintended effects, let's look at what the Democratic showmen intended. Theirs was always obviously a partisan effort to smear their political opposition. When these hearings are over, Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Chairman Sean Maloney (NY) gleefully predicted, voters will know how irresponsibly complicit Republicans were in attempting to toss out their vote and just how far Republicans will go to gain power for themselves.

But the Democrats' made-for-TV hearings, produced by a former ABC executive, revealed virtually no new facts, drew scant public attention, and surely failed to change voting intentions. Instead, they confirmed that the day's violence and constitutional waywardness did not reflect the Republican Party as a whole and underscored the fact that while Trump behaved dreadfully, other GOP officeholders prudently fulfilled their oaths of office and refused to cooperate with his attempt to overturn the election result.

Then-Vice President Mike Pence and his staff patiently but firmly told Trump they couldnt stop the certification of electors. Attorney General William Barr publicly said there was no widespread fraud. Gov. Brian Kemp (GA) told Trump he couldnt change the results.

While most voters were ignoring the Democrats' show trials, Trump was posting his grievances about them on his fledgling social media app, attacking Pence, Barr, and even his own daughter Ivanka, all of whom were confirmed to have understood that he'd lost.

In the latest ABC News poll, just 1 in 10 adults said they followed the hearings closely. Voters are naturally more concerned about inflation, the economy, and border security not, as Democrats hoped, Jan. 6. While Trump and the Democrats obsessively look backward, the rest of the country is looking ahead and wants leaders who focus on the future.

That is what Republican leaders should be doing: providing an attractive alternative both to Democrats and to Trump. Many of them, promisingly, are doing so.

One such example, Gov. Glenn Youngkin (VA), moved forward in his successful 2021 gubernatorial race, offering voters a clear vision of improved educational accountability and an end to COVID restrictions. Voters rewarded that message with a convincing mandate. There are also hopeful signs, which we hope are borne out in the coming months, that other Republican leaders are doing likewise and will not be deterred even if Trump decides to run for the presidency again in 2024.

Pence has been steadily building a national organization. Gov. Ron DeSantis's (FL) aides have told reporters he isnt ruling out a run whatever Trump decides, and Sen. Tom Cotton (AR) said just last week that his decision on whether to run won't depend on whether the former president enters the race.

Pence, DeSantis, Cotton, and several other Republicans who are testing the presidential waters would all be far better choices to lead the Republican Party and the nation than Trump would.

He seems completely unable, and is certainly unwilling, to get past 2020 and his fantasies about the election being stolen from him. Similarly, President Joe Biden is unable and unwilling to get past policies that have been a disaster on every issue voters care about.

The nation deserves leaders with their eyes on the future, not glued to the rearview mirror like those of the past president, the current president, and congressional Democrats.

Go here to see the original:
Trump and Democrats look backward the GOP should move forward - Washington Examiner