Rioters break into the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021,...

Rioters break into the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, and former President Donald Trump, inset, records a video statement in the afternoon that day from the Rose Garden of the White House, in footage displayed at Thursday’s Jan. 6 committee hearing. Credit: AP

Fallout from Donald Trump’s seditious effort to nullify the election he lost continues to poison the body politic and to cast a shadow on future elections.

That was the key subtext Thursday night when the Jan. 6 congressional committee focused its eighth hearing on the details of Trump’s actions — and inaction — during the premeditated violence at the Capitol.

As committee member Republican Rep. Adam Kinzinger of Illinois warned: “The forces Donald Trump ignited that day have not gone away. The militant, intolerant ideologies. The militias, the alienation and the disaffection. The weird fantasies and disinformation. They're all still out there. Ready to go."

This is true. And otherwise mainstream Republicans around the country are seeking and often winning nominations to various offices while parroting the evil lie that the election was stolen from Trump.

As of last month, more than 100 candidates in this sect of false belief had won Republican nominations for state and federal office, by one analysis, many with the potential to influence election processes. It's not irrational to fear that some state legislatures and secretary-of-state offices around the nation will tinker with tested procedures to tilt elections for one side.

On this and other counts, Trump has proved by his misconduct how manifestly unqualified he is to return to the White House. Undeterred, his more fevered allies are making plans for his victory in 2024. They're even looking to purge Civil Service employees en masse to make way for a federal infiltration of Trump loyalists, Axios reports, based on inside communications from Mar-a-Lago to Washington.

INSIDER TESTIMONY

Thursday’s presentation remained notable for how much new testimony regarding Trump’s action and inaction on Jan. 6 came almost exclusively from members of his long-loyal inner circle. These included the star witnesses, then-deputy national security secretary Matthew Pottinger and then-deputy press secretary Sarah Matthews. Both reached the independent conclusion that the misconduct they witnessed from Trump was indefensible and resigned.

The committee has made solid use of their sworn accounts.

Just as fittingly, the panel did not tell but showed what Americans who followed news had gathered for years — that time after time, Trump ignored or displayed public contempt for loyal professional appointees when they informed him of things he did not want to hear.

Much bigger questions of loyalty — to the Constitution and the nation — underlie the hearings.

So it was unsurprising, yet still appalling, to hear in lurid detail how Trump stubbornly refused over more than three chaotic hours to lift a finger to stop the lethal rioting in his name at the Capitol.

And to learn he could not be bothered to contact law enforcement or the Pentagon, but did confer with lawyer Rudy Giuliani and lawmakers who might be willing to carry out his plans to disrupt the Electoral College count.

And to be told Trump had no problem with putting his vice president and Secret Service team in mortal danger from the mob. When the dangerous moments were over, a White House witness said Trump had only this to say of Mike Pence — that the vice president let him down.

It was equally galling to fully comprehend the critical time frame of his continuing incitements on Twitter.

ELECTION DENIAL PERSISTS

Outtakes played by the committee from Trump's bitter, self-glorifying video message from the White House on Jan. 7, 2021 capped the story. After all that happened the previous day, he refused to read a scripted line acknowledging that "the election is over."

The hearings so far have shown that the phrase in his oath, "faithfully execute," rang empty for the 45th president. Questions of future high-level prosecution by the Justice Department remain unresolved. So is the identity of the next GOP nominee for president. The best role for the full Congress right now might be to move ahead on bipartisan legislation to reform Electoral College procedures to close any loopholes that could rig a national vote via chicanery of the kind Trump's team pursued.

For now, all that we saw on Thursday should make voters consider the meaning of their ballots in November, especially for House and Senate seats. It was a helpful reminder for the committee to replay videos of angry words from the two chambers' GOP leaders, Sen. Mitch McConnell and Rep. Kevin McCarthy, in the immediate wake of the riot, for signs of whether they will remain leaders in a Trump-influenced party.

The timing of a new round of hearings, for September, could and should matter in assessing candidates for the fall elections as to just what they believe and support. Republican Rep. Liz Cheney, leading Thursday's proceedings, said new tips, witnesses and evidence were emerging as the probe continues.

“Doors have opened, new subpoenas have been issued and the dam has begun to break,” Cheney said. Hopefully, that means continued new understanding. America needs ever more clarity on this scandal so people can decide the best way to fend off future attacks on democracy.

Nothing in this political moment is more urgent.

MEMBERS OF THE EDITORIAL BOARD are experienced journalists who offer reasoned opinions, based on facts, to encourage informed debate about the issues facing our community.

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