Democrats are facing a tough summer. The weather, disease, is a president people no longer want to see on the ballot.
So you can see why they like a TV show that offers a glimmer of political hope: The 6th of January is the trial, which holds Donald Trump accountable for the riots of the Capitol in 2021, and at the same time made a vague argument that. The Democrats can succeed at something – in this case, breaking the American psyche.
The eight hearings, which took place last week before recessing until September, are a real break from the congressional meetings you’ve seen – or maybe ignored – in the past. Instead of the weight of the pontificate of the legislators, with hard-to-see evidence, it has been done wisely – prepared by TV pro – to meet the audience on TV and on the internet.
They were well looked after. Eighteen million people watched the season finale last week, with the NFL, TV’s most popular program. (That puts them in line with Very Big Hearings like the first testimony of FBI Director James Comey in 2017 and Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh in 2018, though (I would argue that those things are better built into dramas because they are about real time. things that happened, not what happened.)
And they seem to have appealed, both to voters and with elites, such as Rupert Murdoch. In the wake of last week’s incident, which focused on Trump’s refusal to fire the rioters who breached the Capitol, the Murdoch-owned Wall Street Journal and the New York Post took over. by Murdoch condemned Trump in their opinion pages, which tended to support Trump since 2016. (Note: Murdoch’s Fox News, its most powerful, remains completely MAGA).
All of this is to understand the mindset that we will see special changes in the courts for years to come. “Those of us on the Dem digital comms side are like, ‘Okay, this works. Can we do this?'” said Jason Goldman, a former CEO of Twitter who worked in the Obama administration.
The answer, it seems, is no. Unlike a regular congressional meeting, the January 6 program is not a two-way production. It is run by Democrats and Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger, two anti-Trump Republicans, because the rest of the Republican Party destroyed the committee.
They don’t do that anymore, which means we’ll never see another ad with a consistent message and idea. This is a one-time-only deal.
But the 6th of January will still be heard for many years in political announcements and messages because they have emphasized at least two important ideas and methods.
Commentary: One of the major innovations of the trial is the use of pre-recorded interviews and other video footage. They are encouraged now when you watch them on TV. But it is equally important that they appear clearly-prepared, designed to be published behind the ads and directly in the news and social media, where they will eventually be seen by a larger audience. See, for example, Bill Barr, Trump’s longtime attorney general, describing Trump’s election fraud as “crazy”:
Former AG Bill Barr on Trump’s brief lack of explanation of voting machine fraud:
• “Bullshit”• “Bullshit”• “There is absolutely no basis for the accusations”• “Influencing the masses”• “Stupid theory”• “nonsense ” pic.twitter.com/hw1gnUKyZ8
Or last week’s clip of Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO), running away from the J6 naysayers recently gave them his well-proven coalition pump. Here is a scene showing the audience in the boardroom laughing at his car:
It’s tempting to suggest that if you’re trying to spread a message using social media to the American public, you don’t need to spend hours on television. Why not just post directly to Twitter and TikTok and cut out the middle man?
But it’s not true: The clips get their first power because they’re on TV, and they’re on TV because they’re part of a Congressional hearing, not a file. gifs file. This is what the media treats – initially, at least – as news, not agitprop.
“You need an event,” said Dan Pfeiffer, former communications director for Obama and now host of Pod Save America. “The difference between the movie just showing up on Netflix and the release of the new Spider-man movie is known to everyone.”
Also, it’s unlikely we’ll see a single political party given the chance to run a trial, so you won’t see much of this promotion from the Cannon House Office. Building. But it doesn’t take much imagination to create things that look like conference announcements, which are done in rooms with walls, walls, and microphones. (Just avoid the business areas northeast of Philadelphia.)
The message is important: Some of the information that was revealed in court is very new and important. But a lot of it has been around for a while, usually in news that you haven’t seen before. That “stupid” Bill Barr line? You can read that in the Atlantic last year.
But the January 6 committee is trying to make sure you can see and hear people say these things, live or on tape. And not just anyone: Republican Trump fans.
Almost everyone who appeared in court, in direct and indirect testimony, was a former Trump supporter — from Barr to Cassidy Hutchinson, an aide to the president of Trump’s staff; to Stephen Ayres, a rioter who pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct; to Matthew Pottinger, Trump’s deputy national security adviser who resigned after the scandal.
It was not a coincidence. It reflects a belief that political persuasion is more effective when you use “trusted voices” – people with your background and opinion. The committee of January 6 will not tempt Trump’s most powerful supporters, but is expected to give those who are not aggressive a “consent” to separate and believe what they see and hear. .
“There are millions of Americans who may not be activists in the Trump base — they are not true believers in the Big Lie,” said Tara McGowan, a former Democratic operative who helped in organizing digital campaigns in the 2020 election. “But they don’t trust Democrats. They’ll listen more when the next Republican makes this statement.
You can see an early version of this technique two years ago, when the Democrats made ads to show the first voters of Trump who are breaking up with their candidate.
‼️ Jeffrey voted for Trump in 2016, and it’s safe to say he won’t do it again.
He takes you on a ride….You have to watch the whole thing. (Warnings: 1. NSFW 2. Moral “Look Good” Power) pic.twitter.com/foIo4lmaDA
You don’t need to tempt everyone with this. Only by moving people to the edges – such as the election process Navigator says the courts are doing with some Republicans and independents – can ‘ meaningful.
And here we can pause for a moment and note that traditional congressional judgments are not going away, for better or for worse. And you can still use old stuff – stuff that almost nobody watches on TV – well in today’s commercials.
On my timeline, for example, is a photo of Josh Hawley (yup, him again) interacting with UC Berkeley law professor Khiara Bridges about abortion and gender in a jury hearing of the Senate declared a victory for Bridges, who told Hawley that he. not transphobic. But it’s clear that this was a fight that Hawley wanted to make and was happy to use as a game:
Democrats say their true opinion: men can get pregnant and if you don’t agree, you are “transphobic” and responsible for violence pic.twitter.com/44CeIi5WvT
It is also a reminder for people who are strengthening the committee and the work of January 6: The things that work will also be useful in situations that do not comfort you. And you don’t have to imagine that politicians are using video interviews, computer reports, and other methods that we have seen in these campaigns to target negative messages: That is the whole point of outfits like Project Veritas, which are special in the falsification of the “investigative” report.
But now that the court has examined these things for the majority of the country, we only get more, whether we like it or not.
