Tom Kielty

THE KIELTY KONSIDERATION - July 22, 2022

THE KIELTY KONSIDERATION - July 22, 2022

Well, the highly anticipated finale of, “The January 6th Hearings, Season One,” was like all compelling dramas, full of flashbacks to highlights earlier in the season, favorite scenes from beloved characters and the introduction of startling new voices.  And, as we learned, they’ve been renewed for a second season! By all accounts, they are certainly not lacking for material, and in September we’ll be getting, “The January 6th Hearings, Season Two.” With so many big names in the Trump administration having already starred (testified) it’s becoming increasingly obvious that no high-profile players want to be left behind going into season two. Once again, the cast is expected to be filled with the party’s biggest stars with particular favor given to those in close proximity to the former leader as his mind spun out of control at its thus far highest velocity. For now, however, a few highlights from last night’s concluding episode:

-There is simply no way around the most exciting/terrifying/criminal aspect of the final hearing and this is a simple number: 187. The number of minutes that Trump sat in the White House dining room doing virtually nothing - certainly nothing to restore calm - while rioters incited by his, “Stop The Steal,” rhetoric were assaulting the United States Capitol. “187” is like the monster that everyone knew was the show's centerpiece, but when it’s finally revealed, the true horror is etched on the faces of those closest to it.

In this case, it was the dunce’s closest advisors, staff, and even his own family (who’d have thought that in the midst of a national crisis Don Jr. would recognize the gravitas of the situation rather than blindly following his father?). White House attorney, Pat Cipollone, did his best to hide behind Executive Privilege but he even seemed resigned that there was simply no way around admitting that on January 6th there was exactly one person in the White House who did not think the president making a statement urging that the rioters cease and desist was a good idea and that person, of course, was the president.

Special exemption given to that shining IQ beacon, first lady, Melania (does anyone else find it odd that the average reaction when her name was mentioned was, “Oh yeah, I guess she would have been there, wouldn’t she?”) who has vacillated between claiming no knowledge of the violence because she was leading photographers and archivists on a tour of renovations (a duty covered by the White House curator and the White House Historical Association). When asked by Stephanie Grisham, her former chief of staff, if she wanted to make a statement condemning the violence she simply said, “No.” No question, as someone truly unaware might query, “What violence?” Just one simple uncaring and callous word following a lie. Despite reports to the contrary she really is one of the gang.

-Those on Pennsylvania Avenue have spoken repeatedly of urging Rumplestilskin to “ask” the rioters to please stop. Let’s make one thing very clear, the last thing that Trump ever “asked” of someone was asking his father for more money. This is a person who prides himself on the lack of class ethos wherein the motto, “I don’t ask, I tell!” Is seen as self-assured and deserving. He didn’t “ask” these miscreants to march to the Capitol, he told them to and like the programmed lemmings they are they did what their nature told them to. At one point, according to the testimony of former White House aide, Sarah Matthews, there was a heated discussion among staffers that by “asking” the rioters to stop they would be admitting that the media was right and thus accepting a defeat. That’s how ingrained the paranoia was within the White House.

-While watching television in the dining room, and face it: as the nation was facing its biggest insurrection in recent history the president was basically taking the posture of a rich host who’d grown bored and tired with others' opinions at Thanksgiving dinner and planted himself in front of the TV, he could have called any number of law enforcement and/or military operations at his disposal to quell the riot. He could have walked to the White House press briefing room where we were alerted, there is a live television camera at the ready 24/7.

Instead, he called the dunce supreme, Rudy Giuliani and then began dialing up senators who, as would have been clearly shown on the Fox News broadcast on the dining room television, were scrambling for shelter to avoid the president’s supporters. There are precious few notes on the official White House timeline for this time period but one does stand out: the official White House photographer was told, “No photos.” There are few humans on earth as needy for attention as our Donald J. Trump. This is a man for whom cameras exist nearly as essential as oxygen and Diet Coke. “No photos.” Read into that what you will but I’d be equally shocked if there wasn’t a steak prepared well done with ketchup on the side during his self-imposed “me time.”

-Throughout this series, there was the predictably moronic character you were half-expecting to buy it the entire time and that role was played admirably by Vice President, Mike Pence. What was revealed was just how close he did come to getting iced - to the point that members of his Secret Service detail were purportedly radioing to their offsite colleagues asking them to convey potential farewell messages to loved ones - while rather than making his safety a priority his boss was tweeting of his extreme disappointment in him. Pence has always had the dull eyes of the undead or the reborn in the Lord (perhaps both) but the fact that he hasn’t said a word against the man who shrugged his shoulders as a mob chanted for him to be hanged while in the company of his wife and daughter is the equivalent of a dog who still barks in obsequious obedience as the abusive owner who abandoned him drives off. It’s not as though he was totally out of his master’s mind though. One aid testified that prior to entering the White House residence the last thing that Trump said was not anything along the lines of, “What a terrible day for America,” Nope. It was, “Mike Pence let me down.”

-Given his established narcissistic modus operandi it should have come as no surprise that Trump fought against eventually making a statement calling for the rioters to knock it off and even then went off script telling them they were “special” and “loved.” This continued the following day when despite being urged all day to make a statement condemning the previous day’s historic black mark he finally relented that evening with his daughter, Ivanka, acting as director. He fumbles over the prepared remarks (which insiders say was common and for which he always found someone else to blame) having particular difficulty with the word, ‘yesterday,’ before once again refusing to concede. “I don’t want to say the election is over,” he says when he realizes what he’s just said.  Tell a lie frequently enough and you come to believe it. 

-Once again in trying to find any hint of humor I present unsubstantial Missouri Senator, Josh Hawley. The Republican played television tough guy outside the Capitol as the miscreants massed then was caught fleeing “Benny Hill” style inside the Capitol, eliciting laughter from the assembled. What a tool.

So, there we have it, and what do we have to look forward to in Season Two? Well, we were teased with the fact that after all of their tweets from January 6th were lost in a computer mix-up (why not just say they were all lost when a tornado fueled by a hurricane in the midst of a blizzard occurred in an isolated spot above their server? Just as believable) three former Secret Service agents have opted out of the agency’s blanket coverage and lawyered up on their own. Look for the Secret Service to play a bigger role in Season Two. Also, the playing of the recently discovered Steve Bannon tape, in which Democracy's most ambitious evil enemy nonchalantly calls out every post-election move that Trump will make days before the election. Stay tuned, it’s gonna’ be a wild one!