The note from a reader in Virginia came days before four police officers captivated a House committee hearing with testimony about what happened on Jan. 6.
“Are you ignorant or just a liar?” the note read. “You really think Biden won? Do you not know most of the Capitol trouble was instigated by provocateurs, i.e. the left? Capitol police standing down, turning down National Guard 2 days before the 6th? You are not a journalist!”
This reader had apparently stumbled upon a column I wrote in February decrying efforts to make what happened on Jan. 6 seem normal. Nearly six months later, this guy still hadn’t come to grips with the result of the 2020 election.
Joe Biden won. Donald J. Trump lost. That’s reality for most of us, but not this guy.
You have to wonder whether the man saw even a portion of the hearing in which those officers described what happened that day.
Maybe not.
We live in a world where lots of folks see only the news they want to see. They’re drawn to commentators who support a reality they wish to be true.
For many, that source of news and commentary is Fox News, and to its credit, the channel did broadcast the committee hearing. Of course, that doesn’t mean the usual viewers tuned in. CNN’s Brian Stelter reported the channel’s ratings had fallen by almost half during that time period.
“Fox bottomed out at noon with just 736,000 viewers, a far lower audience than usual for Fox at that hour,” Stelter tweeted.
By 8 p.m., though, Tucker Carlson was insulting the lawmakers involved in the hearing, and the audience was back to 3 million.
Not all Fox News personalities dismissed the hearing.
The channel’s media commentator, Howard Kurtz, admitted he had not been prepared for the powerful accounts delivered by those four officers.
“No one would dispute that they are heroes,” he wrote in his “Media Buzz” column. “They held the line, with democracy at stake. It was heartbreaking to watch, not least because of the sense of betrayal in their voices about being assaulted by those they are pledged to defend.”
Perhaps Kurtz should have a chat with fellow Fox News personality Laura Ingraham. A chyron at the bottom of the screen during her broadcast that night pretty much summed up her reaction to the testimony.
“Dem-led committee,” it said, “holds first performance investigating Jan. 6 attack.” Ingraham handed out best-actor awards to two of the officers, Harry Dunn and Michael Fanone.
For those who don’t recall the testimony, it was Dunn who spoke of what happened when he told a rioter he had voted for Joe Biden.
A woman in a pink MAGA shirt used a racial slur as she yelled to the crowd, he said, and the crowd yelled back, using it over and over again.
It was the first time in his life, Dunn said, that he had heard the racial slur hurled at him while in uniform.
In Ingraham’s eyes, the testimony earned Dunn the “best political performance” award.
Fanone, meanwhile, recalled a rioter repeatedly lunging for his gun.
“I heard chanting from some in the crowd: ‘Get his gun and kill him with his own gun,’” Fanone recalled.
He said he had been shocked repeatedly with a Taser.
“I’m sure I was screaming,” he recalled, “but I don’t think I could even hear my own voice.”
For Ingraham, Fanone’s testimony merited the “best action performance” award.
Such a skewed version of reality serves its purpose.
Those rioters were only pretending to be Trump supporters. And those police officers? They were just playing a role.
Just ask that guy in Virginia.
Kelly Hawes is a columnist for CNHI newspapers in Indiana. Send comments to [email protected].
