Earlier this month, Congressman Adam Schiff, (D-Calif.) appeared on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert to promote his latest TV show, i.e., the January 6 Committee hearings.

Schiff seemed at ease for he had an absolute unquestioning ally in Colbert and a brainwashed audience eager to accept his deceptions. 

Most individuals reveal their true colors in relaxed settings.

Schiff began by conceding that his previous efforts -- the Mueller hearing and the Ukraine hearing -- were flops because they were monotonous and marred by partisan disagreements. Schiff then claimed that the January investigation is ‘non-partisan’ which meant there will be no bickering.  

The nonchalant reference to the partisan bickering of the previous probes is quite telling. 

Schiff probably forgot that partisan squabbling is how democracy functions. Only totalitarian regimes are devoid of partisan divide because dissent is crushed using draconian methods.

This reference to 'non-partisan' is similar to the ‘diversity’ claim that liberals make. The differences are superficial, but there is consensus on key issues.

All the Committee members, especially the ‘Republicans,’ share a consensus that Trump is guilty. They are merely working their way backward, hoping to entrap Trump or his allies. The goal of the hearings is not to find facts, but to push a narrative. These kinds of biased ‘probes’ occur only in third-world dictatorships.

This probe and the hearing is a prolonged Democrat campaign event for the mid-terms and for 2024.

Colbert asked Schiff about the ‘fancy TV producer’ hired for the broadcast of the hearings. 

Schiff complained that, unlike the Watergate hearings during the '70s, TV channels no longer broadcast such hearings live and audiences don’t watch hearings for prolonged periods of time. 

He is wrong. Some 20 million people, which is a sizable audience in today’s times, tuned in to watch the Schiff show. But they rapidly gave up, perhaps upon deducing the partisan motives of the committee and the fact they had nothing new to reveal.

Schiff was actually lamenting that the Democrats no longer have a monopoly over narratives. People have myriad outlets to discover facts. No longer are the words of the NYT or a partisan committee treated like God’s truth.

Schiff then said that he wanted to tell 'the story of the insurrection in a clear and compelling way' to engage the viewers. It was an admission that a made-for-TV spectacle, where style triumphs because of the lack of substance. 

Next, both Colbert and Schiff accused their opponents of what they are guilty of. They claimed that the occurrences on January 6 were the culmination of a slow-moving coup that involved months of conspiring and electoral malpractice to overturn the 2020 presidential elections.

We all know that Schiff was among the leading proponents of the Russia collusion hoax that was aimed at overturning the 2016 election. We also know that Colbert used his show as a platform to push these lies. But the sanctimonious rarely have self-awareness.

Colbert asked Schiff if there would be any startling new revelations during the hearings.

Schiff claimed that the public is desensitized due to the relentless barrage of news of the ‘tragic and incredible breakdown' of the 'American democratic system’ under Trump. Schiff added that the committee had an uphill task to break through the numbness and ‘grab people by the lapel’ to tell them that they "came close to losing our democracy."

Beneath these polite words, both Colbert and Schiff are furious that citizens don’t believe their narrative. They wish they had obedient subjects rather than questioning citizens.

Next Colbert referred to the likes of Steve Bannon, Mark Meadows, and Peter Navarro who defied subpoenas of the January 6 committee. He asked how Schiff felt that these men were not charged by the DOJ.

Schiff said he was disappointed and alarmed, that people are not punished for their contempt of Congress. Schiff also baselessly claimed that Bannon and the rest who defied summons did not have any privilege to do so.

Perhaps Schiff's lamentations didn’t fall on deaf ears: A few days back, the DOJ actually arrested Peter Navarro, who was taken away from a flight before the public in handcuffs and leg irons like a career criminal.

Defying a congressional summons is nothing new.

In the past, everyone from Nixon’s secretary of state, Henry Kissinger, to Obama’s attorney general, Eric Holder, refused to testify before Congress. They were held in contempt but nothing more happened to them.

What is amazing is how Colbert and Schiff were talking about misusing government powers to punish their political opponents and attaching morality to it. The nonchalance proves they either don’t realize what they are saying or they no longer care about how they are perceived.

Schiff concluded by saying that it is up to the citizenry to protect democracy. This was Schiff almost saying: ‘Vote Democrat to protect our democracy.' 

It was also Schiff admitting that the committee had nothing.

There was an undercurrent of helplessness in the conversation, as if both men knew that they have no case from their elaborate hearings extravaganza, but they have to continue with the charade.

The occurrences of January 6 came from a protest that went overboard. It is unclear how many covert operatives such as Ray Epps had infiltrated the protest to encourage protesters to run riot and enter the Capitol building as Congress was in session. It is also unclear if other covert operatives infiltrated the protests to cause violence. 

The protestors were unarmed and the Capitol police did very little to either prevent them from entering the building or evict them out of the building.

This was not an insurrection. It was a case of trespassing, identical to what Stephen Colbert staff members were arrested for a few days back.

There was no threat to democracy on Jan. 6, 2021.

The only threat to democracy was in 2017 when Democrats led a baseless probe to overturn the 2016 elections. During the Mueller probe, government agencies were misused to persecute political opponents, and the media was an active proponent of and even participant in the big lie. The Democrats also conducted two baseless impeachments when the Russian collusion hoax failed. This January 6 probe is merely a continuance of this trend.

Back then the goal was to force Trump out of office, the goal now is to prevent him from running in 2024.

They realize they have been a failure in governance. Under Biden, the U.S. has suffered on many fronts.

There is 40-year high inflation, surging gas prices, and a supply chain crisis. The border is open which causes an influx of migrants, human trafficking, and smuggling of illicit drugs. Foreign policy is characterized by massive failures, such as that of the Afghanistan pullout.

The Democrats have neither uttered perfunctory words of concern for the suffering people nor have they offered any solutions.

They realize that exaggerations, lies, phony probes, and staged hearings are their only chance to retain power.

They probably forget the famous Lincoln quote that you can fool all the people some of the time, and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time.

Image: Screen shot from The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, via shareable YouTube