Following the fourth action-and truth-packed House January 6 Committee hearing Tuesday, as the depraved perfidy and moral toilet of former President Trump has now come out so plainly and systematically for all to see, the wisest summary insight about it all to date (No. 5 is today) has come from veteran journalist and MSNBC contributor Mike Barnicle. On two points.
Barnicle made two profound points on “Morning Joe” Wednesday that put the whole shebang into two knowable, true and focused concepts. The first is that what is being documented through the committee’s arduous work is tantamount to that of a crime syndicate that is still at large. The second is that what has been the key to saving our still-imperiled democracy is not politics, but is character, the character of the players who would not be corrupted by Trump and his criminal enterprise.
Character, as the seasoned veteran Barnicle (born during World War II in an era when character carried a lot more weight than since, before the onset of Baby Boomers) noted, is something that can’t be bought. One either has it or does not. It is separate from ideology, which is why political views have had nothing to do with those who’ve been demonstrating such profound qualities of integrity and courage in these hearings, persons ranging from the vice president to the most proud and patriotic “ordinary” poll workers have demonstrated.
As Barnicle commented, there is no way to measure right now the extent of the…