What if McConnell’s right about the Jan. 6 commission?

What if Mitch McConnell’s was actually right about torpedoing the Jan. 6 commission? What if he was doing Democrats a favor?

I know what you’re thinking: McConnell is an amoral, self-serving politician with who only wants to benefit his own party (the Republicans). And you’re right. That’s entirely true. He doesn’t want to keep Donald Trump front and center, because it could damage his party further. He’s been clear that he wants to move on from Trump, even if grass-roots Republicans don’t.

That helps Republicans with the electorate in general, and independents in particular, because it keeps the focus off Trump and projects a picture that everything’s back to business as usual. People have short memories when it comes to politics, and that’s true now more than ever in an era of lightning-quick news cycles.

With midterm elections coming up — in which the party out of the White House generally does well — it behooves McConnell to keep the focus off of Trump, who tends to drag Republican candidates down in general elections, and project an aura of normalcy.

So how does this help Democrats?

Keeping the focus away from Trump might benefit them in different ways. Trump has repeatedly avoided political attempts in Congress to hold him accountable for high-level corruption. He survived two impeachment trials, and there’s no reason to think he wouldn’t survive a commission inquiry divided along similar party lines.

No minds will be changed, and fewer people will be watching. Besides, Congress has already conducted hearings into the security failures of Jan. 6.

If Trump gets off scot-free once again (and there’s no reason to believe he won’t), it will give him yet another reason to gloat and put him back in the public spotlight now that he’s struggling to remain relevant probably isn’t a good idea. He can portray Democrats as vindictive and use the commission to mobilize his supporters, which wouldn’t be good for his opponents — especially since so many of them are fatigued and just happy he’s gone.

Any publicity is good publicity, and Trump’s not getting much of it right now. He’s been banned from social media sites, and his new website has less of a following than Petfinder.  

Democrats want accountability — and I can’t blame them for that. Heck, I’d love to see Trump held to account for inciting the Jan. 6 insurrection. I think he deserves to be thrown in prison for it, and I wouldn’t mind seeing him rot there.

And I’m not even a Democrat.

But now that he’s out of the White House, I’m also tickled pink I don’t have to deal with the chaos, divisiveness, bigotry, and sheer meanness Trump spews forth on a daily basis. Giving him a platform, even for the purpose of “making him pay,” might not be such a good idea.

Isn’t it better to let the courts handle things? Sure, he’ll accuse them of being political, too, but that accusation won’t be nearly as easy to sell without Nancy Pelosi, AOC, and Chuck Schumer as convenient partisan scapegoats.

Yes, it’s possible he’ll escape justice in the courts, too. He’s been fairly good at that. But it’s also possible he won’t: He’s lost or been forced to settle lawsuits before. In fact, he had an abysmal record in challenging last year’s election results in court.

And that’s something that can’t be said of his record in a congressional “courtroom.” There, he gets away with things as a matter of course. Why let that happen again?

Put him on trial in the justice system, where we might actually be successful in “making him pay.” That’s what McConnell wants, because he doesn’t particularly care for Trump, but also doesn’t want to be the one to take him down — and endure the wrath of his supporters. It’s what his opponents should want, too, simply because that’s the place they have the best chance of succeeding.

McConnell may be an amoral, conniving, self-serving politician, but that doesn’t mean he’s wrong about this one, no matter how much we might wish he were. It galls us that Trump keeps getting away with things, and rightfully so. But the courts are the only place we might get some satisfaction, because there are people with even fewer principles than McConnell in Congress.

And that’s a scary thought.   

Stephen H. Provost is the author of a three-book series about the Trump presidency, Trumpism on Trial, available on Amazon.