WASHINGTON — “This is my Super Bowl,”The House committee was holding public hearings to investigate the attack on Jan. 6, 2001, at the Capitol. What is the Super Bowl without stars or fans? Trump’s former president and his entire family would be absent in person. Rudolph W. Giuliani who was once his personal attorney and former New York City mayor would not be there, as would any other person besides a political major.
And unlike the defamation trial last month involving Johnny Depp and his former wife, Amber Heard — in which the public’s passion for salacious celebrity gossip was unmistakable — avid followers did not appear to be lined up to cheer or protest.
Washington appeared unaffected by the incident. A mass of schoolchildren in color coordination trudged to different monuments, oscillating between amazement and boredom.
Men with white collars and sweaty skin walked to Hyatt between meetings.
Hot tourists were fed by ice cream vendors, as well as hungry pigeons.
However, inside the Capitol are photographers and reporters as well as television crews.
Journalists lingered in the Cannon House Office Building’s halls for hours, ready to sprint, iPhones outstretched, after committee members.
Photographers used cracks in doors to get a glimpse of a moment that was otherwise unheard.
Triumph the Insult Comic Canine, working on an episode “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert,”He circled around the Capitol Rotunda making crude jokes, and performing impressions of Donald Trump. Capitol Police arrested and charged the puppet or his master Robert Smigel with unlawful entry.
Some news media members seemed nostalgic for Trump’s turbulent times. The stick-to-the-script nature of President Biden’s tenure hasn’t quite elicited the same passions — or ratings.
“This is the biggest event we’ve had in a long time,”Photographer.
Partly, the hearings were staged by an experienced television executive hired to grab attention from Americans tired of two impeachment trials as well as countless news banners. Fox News refused to broadcast the hearing in prime-time. Fox News later decided that it would broadcast daytime sessions which were in accordance with its main opinion show.
Washington has seen its fair share of political spectacles in the past, but this was both exciting and disappointing. While the people paying close attention were being surrounded by the media, the opposing side just changed the channel.
Walking outside of Capitol I saw a tourist from Germany in the well-known Fred Perry shirt (the uniform of Proud Boys). He smiled wide for the picture, seemingly unaware of the symbolism it represented.
I didn’t have the heart to tell him.
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