All That Is Missing Is The Kardashians

All That Is Missing Is The Kardashians

– By Ed Kociela –

We’re into the dog days of summer already with searing temperatures that suck the air from your lungs and the energy from our bodies.

We didn’t notice it so much the last few years because of, well, COVID when day drinking while binging on the Netflix playlist was how we got through the long days and longer nights.

Things are better, I think, as we move about more freely and the vaxxers vs. anti-vaxxers dustup settles at least a bit.

But, despite that there the elephant remains in the room because we are still struggling to apply jurisprudence to the traitorous bad actors who brought you the Jan. 6 insurrection. And, instead of “Grace and Frankie” reruns, we get it all in real-time on our TVs.

I don’t know if it is a true interest in history or simply our infatuation with reality television that makes these televised House committee meetings so compelling. I mean, you’d think the Kardashians were on, right? Instead, we are promised that today will feature testimony from former White House counsel Pat Cippolone, who will be used to establish the ties between the former president, his White House, and others who helped plan and execute the attack on the United States Capitol. How much Cippolone dishes today remains unknown, of course, but the general feeling is that he will, at the very least, substantiate the testimony of Cassidy Hutchinson who dropped some fascinating nuggets on the committee during her testimony.

Unfortunately for Mr. Cippolone, the testimony today will most likely be regarded by the public akin to the way concert-goers used to treat opening acts for concerts by The Beatles. Unless he manages to bring the whole house down everybody will be looking forward to the headliner, who in this case will be Steve Bannon, who is warming up in the bullpen.

Look, we all thought we would be done with the former president and his buddies at this point, that we wouldn’t have to deal with any more of his lies and chest-thumping, but, here we are again. We could shift the conversation to local or even state issues, but honestly, are you really talking about that with your neighbors? No. You are talking about this committee, The Oath Keepers, the former president, the Department of Justice investigation, and, of course, the media, whose job it is to initiate the conversation. And, it is our responsibility to not let go of this thing. I mean, what would have happened if Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward had switched gears and stepped away from the Watergate story? Without question, the former president’s assault on the Constitution is far worse than the petty breaking and entry of the Watergate Hotel or the lies that followed. This was an attempt to overthrow the U.S. government.

Bannon comes into the interrogation with a pardon in his pocket. That doesn’t mean he will roll over on the former president. He also comes into the hearing with a history of ups and downs with the former president with whom he apparently had a love/hate relationship. And, he also comes to the hearing in an attempt to make peace with charges that he had violated a subpoena to testify before the House. I doubt seriously it will play that way because that was then and this is now and showing up now in no way alleviates him of previous transgressions for snubbing the committee and House. Perhaps he is looking for some sort of quid pro quo.

Still, this one has all the goods to be an incredible show.

Will he invoke his Fifth Amendment rights?

Will he spill the beans?

Will he use the meeting to shuck and jive and, perhaps, add another 15 minutes of fame to his resume?

I’m not sure which way this will fall or even if Bannon will show up as advertised. He’s a wild card, you see, unpredictable, contrary, arrogant, meaning that whatever he does is sure to be entertaining. But, will it be substantial? Will it do anything other than set Bannon up for additional attention, i.e. profit, as a result of his involvement? Will he even tell the truth?

We were told that he is testifying because the former president released his claims of executive privilege. The thing is, the former president never invoked executive privilege, according to his own attorneys. And, what the committee wants to talk to Bannon about has nothing to do with when he was in the employ of the White House. It has to do with civilian Bannon dealing with the president and, possibly, as a go-between with the radicals who marched on the Capitol that ugly day. He was, after all, a member of the former president’s kitchen cabinet, a group of individuals who, obviously, did not pay attention during their high school civics classes, but managed to bend the former president’s ear when important decisions were on the table.

It all makes sense, you know, in that twisted reality TV world where truly terrible people are propped up by money, power, or celebrity, and foisted upon a non-discerning public.

It is good to be nice, to be kind, to be forgiving. But that doesn’t mean we should allow guys like Bannon or the former president or any of the others — from Rudy Giuliani to Roger Stone — to get off the hook for their part in trying to overthrow the government.

And, as compelling as this must-see TV actually is as it goes off into the tall weeds, we must remember that this is the real deal, not the brainchild of some TV producer with an over-active sense for the absurd.

So, although the former president and his inner circle may have more in common with the cast of “Duck Dynasty” and are about as vacuous as the cast of “The Kardashians,” they are also, embarrassingly, a part of our history.

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