WASHINGTON — The Jan. 6 hearings opened with a shocking portrayal in prime time of how then-President Donald Trump’s efforts to subvert his election loss touched off a deadly riot at the U.S. Capitol.
Yet the House investigation’s ultimate impact on public attitudes will turn on whether the committee continues to deliver moments that will etch themselves into the consciousness of an American public focused on rising prices for gasoline and food as inflation hits a fresh 40-year high, shortages resulting from supply-chain snarls and rising crime.
In an age when viral memes and social media conversations shape perceptions, two highlights of Thursday’s session may prove the most durable: Trump Attorney General William Barr and the former president’s daughter Ivanka saying they didn’t believe his claims of a stolen election, and the live testimony of a Capitol Police officer. The officer, who was injured in the melee, described a “war scene” in which she and her fellow officers were pummeled by rioters and slipping in blood.
