Millions of Americans have watched over the past six weeks the public hearings of the US Congressional panel that have documented the actions of former President Donald Trump and his inner circle in relation to the assault on the capitol on January 6, 2021.
Despite this, it remains unclear what effect, if any, these procedures will have, despite bringing to light a mountain of new details of what happened in the Trump White House before and during the insurrection. .
Democrats are confident the hearings, among the last to date this past Thursday, will seal the end of Trump’s political career and beyond, according to Dillard University professor of Public Policy and Urban Studies Robert Collins. .
“What Democrats would love is to uncover enough evidence of criminal conduct strong enough to prove that former President Trump incited his supporters to storm Capitol Hill to reverse the results of the 2020 election, and for the Justice Department to bring charges. criminals against him and his conspirators,” Collins told the voice of america.
However, he added that this is very difficult because there are obstacles to impeaching a former president, although, he said, “if they can at least damage him politically so that he cannot run for president again, the Democrats would be satisfied.” .
Republican doubts
On the other hand, many Republicans express skepticism about what such hearings can accomplish.
“Nothing will come out of those hearings,” he told the VOA Alberto Pérez, a Republican voter from the town of Blairsville, Georgia. “It will be a reflection of what the Democratic-controlled Congress has accomplished in the last two years. Nothing at all.”
Trump’s most ardent supporters see the hearings as not impartial but a witch hunt spreading lies, despite the fact that there are two Republicans on the committee and members of Trump’s inner circle, including his daughter and son-in-law, and other Republican Party figures, such as former Attorney General William Barr, have offered explosive testimony.
Still, Christine Carney, a Trump supporter in Coatesville, Pennsylvania, suspects the investigations will have the opposite effect of what the House panel is aiming for.
“If anything, they are making Republican voters much more supportive of Trump. It’s obvious they’re piling up all these lies about him and finding more lies every day,” Carney told the VOA.
She and other Trump supporters view the hearings as an attempt to drive a wedge between him and his voters.
“Trump is an independent mind and they don’t want someone they can’t control running the country,” Carney said. “They lie, they cheat, they steal and plant evidence, and they threaten people to lie in court to get what they want. , that he does not return to the presidency”.
The polls
A poll released this Thursday showed that 57% of Americans believe that Trump bears “a large part of the blame” for the assault on Capitol Hill. According to the survey of NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist92% of Democrats consider him guilty, compared to only 18% of Republicans.
Some 50% of respondents said the former president should be charged with crimes related to the evidence presented at the panel hearings, but only 28% believe he will face criminal charges.
The poll found that 80% of Democrats say they are paying attention to the hearings, compared to 55% of independents and 44% of Republicans.
The television audience has also decreased. Twenty million watched the first hearing on June 9, but only nine million the third.
“I haven’t seen any, nor have I seen anything in the traditional media,” Pérez said in Georgia. “I imagine neither do most Trump supporters. Those hearings have no credibility for us.”
However, many Democrats say they still believe the committee’s public hearings are worthwhile.
electoral consequences
The hearings began many months before Americans go to the polls in November to determine which party will control Congress for the next two years, something voters will need to consider.
For Jay Williams, a consultant to many Republican politicians, “it’s just a partisan exercise to affect Republicans in the midterm elections.”
“Maybe those hearings will encourage the Democratic base, but most voters are worried about bigger things, like the economy,” Williams told the press conference. VOA.
Dillard University’s Collins agrees that the hearings may not have an impact on the November election, but they could influence the presidential race if Trump tries to return to the White House in 2024.
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