The January 6th House Select Committee’s public hearings, where the American people will finally see all of the mounting evidence against the ex-President and his inner circle, are just around the corner now and it looks like Donald Trump is pretty damn desperate to do some damage control — so much so that he’s apparently tossing around the idea of putting together his own public appearance on the same day, in an effort to pretty much say, “Hey, don’t look at that! Look over here!”
Axios now reports that Trump is in on a “counterprogram” effort by Republicans to derail the American public’s attention from the highly-publicized forthcoming hearings and as such, he’s seriously looking into the possibility of making some sort of public appearance somewhere at the exact same time they’re on.
Alayna Treene and Andrew Solender report for the publication, “Trump and his inner circle will rely heavily on members of Congress — from House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) to Reps. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), Jim Banks (R-Ind.) and Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) — to drive counterprogramming, sources familiar with their planning tell Axios. Trump himself has not ruled out making some sort of an appearance, one of the sources says.”
“People close to Trump have been working closely with members of Congress, the RNC and outside groups like the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) to collaborate on their offensive narrative,” the report goes on to note. “Matt Schlapp, former Trump White House political director and chairman of CPAC, has been a leader in the effort, sources say.”
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Axios explains that Republicans are desperate to paint the hearings as “rigged” against them, just like the 2020 election, and are frankly spreading the talking point across Right-wing social media.
The RNC has also circulated a one-page memo outlining its messaging points, according to a copy of the document obtained by Axios and first reported by Vox,” the report adds. “The talking points include ‘RNC Goals’ and ‘Requests from [Trump]’: ‘Attack Nancy Pelosi’s committee and its members, portraying them as partisan, illegitimate, and a distraction for real issues’ … [and] ‘Brand these as rigged hearings’ and ‘Define Democrats being the real election deniers.'”
Of course, it’s expected that these hearings are about to be as damning as they come for the former guy and his comrades. It’s really no wonder they’re willing to do just about anything to pull the focus.
Featured image via Flickr/Michael Vadon, under Creative Commons license 2.0
