Trump Is Obviously Guilty of Sedition, So Why Is the January 6 Committee Wavering?

In other words: The backfiring worry is very overstated in a hyper-polarized age. Of course a formal referral will infuriate Trumpists. And it will give Trump a little fodder to complain about a partisan “witch hunt.” But Democrats can counter that the committee has two Republicans. Liberals will nod, conservatives will be enraged, and most voters in the middle will shrug. It’s a relatively minor thing, this referral. There’s no harm in doing it.

What’s more interesting is how the committee is going to wind this down in the coming months. Members have been hearing hours and hours of testimony. Investigative staff have been poring through electronic communications. The leaks so far have been close to masterful, conveying a sense of momentum and making careful readers wonder, “Gee, how much more do they have?”

I bet a lot. They’re still deciding who their big witnesses are going to be in May and June. But if those hearings have a few bombshell moments (perhaps relating to exactly what Trump did and said during those seven hours), to be followed by a full and thorough report, and then a formal referral on Trump because by that time the evidence will be so overwhelming as to make a referral seem like a foregone conclusion, that will be powerful.