With Jan. 6 Hearings, Democrats Shift Focus Back To Trump

LOADING ERROR LOADING Democrats hope Thursday’s prime-time hearing on the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol can begin a new effort to recast Republicans as the party of an extremist movement loyal to Donald Trump that poses a direct threat to democracy, a message they believe can limit their losses in November’s midterm elections. Our Constitution is at risk.” Without directly mentioning the midterm elections, Hoyer said he hoped the hearings “will lead to action by the American people that will diminish very substantially the efforts to stoke such anger, such violence.” The hearings could be the highest-profile attempt by Democrats to tar the GOP as “ultra MAGA,” as Biden has put it: a party obsessed with false beliefs about the 2020 election, driven by a cult-like obedience to Trump, closely tied to extremist groups and willing to enact an unpopular agenda at any cost. Among the swing voters it polled in midterm battlegrounds — Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, New Hampshire, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin — nearly three-quarters found it unfavorable if a candidate participated in the attack on Congress and 64% found it unfavorable if a candidate believed the attack was “legitimate political discourse.” And 50% view Trump’s “strong backing” of a candidate as a turn-off. “Recruiting, disrupting, organizing to take over Congress in 2022 and return Trump to power.” Democrats have more work to do to convince even Democratic-leaning voters that the midterms are equally as important as the presidential election — 57% of Democratic-leaning “low-motivation” voters surveyed believe it doesn’t matter who wins 2022’s congressional races, up from the percentage who felt that way about the 2020 election, according to the Priorities USA survey. “We need to win these races one by one.” Republicans also nominated Pennsylvania state Sen. Doug Mastriano, who attended Trump’s Jan. 6 rally and has been subpoenaed by the House committee, as their nominee for governor — a development that dampened GOP hopes of seizing control of a crucial swing state.