Other than reminding all people with functioning brain cells that Donald Trump is an unspeakable dirtbag, the Senate Resurrection Impeachment Trial is perhaps the first major political event in the history of politics that uses images rather than windbags to make its arguments.
Until recently, politicians would have to talk about things. Now they can show them.
It was not only a brilliant move, but it is also significant. This is where America is, and hopefully is going. This could be a major gateway to the dream of a kindler, gentler, and equal nation.
The pundits were so busy obsessing on Republican dysfunction and cowardice that many missed the point. It doesn’t really matter what they say or how to vote. We can see it for ourselves.
Those Iphone videos are a blessing and a curse. Often, they’ve been a curse. In Washington this week, they are a blessing. They are truth in a sea of lies.
Just watch these stunning, gripping videos ricochet across America and see how they reach more people more directly than all network and cable television broadcasts combined.
I hate to be cold-blooded about it but as a former CBS News producer, those may be the most extraordinary videos I’ve ever seen.
Any healthy person who looks at them will feel a powerful emotional pull. They are by far the best testimony the impeachment managers could possibly have chosen.
Trump and also the Republicans have known this for years; they used videos to cripple Barack Obama and to convince 90 percent of the Republican Party that Joe Biden is a senile communist and that the election was stolen from Donald Trump.
They also made compassion and empathy and liberalism and immigration dirty words. They taught half of the country to hate the poor and blame them for their troubles.
Fox News is a dinosaur waiting to tumble over, a pimple on the ass of life compared to video power. Fake news, yes, but old news, more importantly.
Consider how powerful it has been in the impeachment trial. Liberal democracy has some real hope at last. The Democrats could have talked themselves purple about how evil Trump is, but there is nothing more persuasive than making up your own mind.
The Republican Party is far too messed up and sclerotic to convict Trump, but the real and ultimate jury is the American public.
The GOP is worshipping itself into oblivion. Enabling Donald Trump is not a national policy or idealistic goal.
Videos are the big story in the impeachment so far.
Americans now watch and absorb videos more frequently than any other medium or information source in American history.
The compelling arguments presented by the Democratic impeachment managers speak for themselves; nobody needs me to tell them how well presented and convincing it was.
The growth of video watching has been explosive in America. That’s how the next generation communities.
Videos are simple to share and view and save. For millions of Americans, watching is the new reading. This is really how news travels. Look at the damage Trump did on social media while his opposition gave interviews and speeches.
They have learned their lesson.
It’s important to recognize that a big story from the impeachment is that the Democratic Party has been a battered and ineffectual opposition to a ruthless and relentless far-right media campaign.
I’m thinking the resistance is finally learning the lessons of modern times.
Joe Biden and his staff began this process by being the first major opposition figures in the Trump era to understand the Achilles Heel of Donald Trump and Trumpism — they can survive absolutely anything from lies to corruption except one thing: being ignored.
Attention is the fuel, without it they run out of gas.
They can manipulate the visual media for their own purposes in their own way. Trump may have sparked a revolution, but he won’t like where it’s going.
The only images you have seen Joe Biden share are those in which he is working hard to do his job. There isn’t a single one of him arguing or dividing people—what a great image for something that wants to lower the national temperature.
You won’t see him ever get on the Trump Crazy Train. Or even mention his name on TV.
In contrast, Trump’s 11,000 tweets and even more social media videos transformed the Presidency and American politics.
As a result, Biden’s popularity is steadily rising while Trump’s is steadily falling. That’s the cruel thing about modern media. Trump is already yesterday, and his 79-year old successor (who still uses record players) is tomorrow. Go figure.
Either the Democrats were finally watching, or they hired someone who had. Maybe some congressman or woman has a bright teenager they finally listened to.
I can’t find any evidence that Biden has even mentioned Trump once since he took office. Despite being called a liar, a thief, a traitor, senile and impaired, a Nazi, a socialist, and a radical extremist, Biden seems to have taken the position that Trump doesn’t exist not important enough to waste one word or minute on.
Without people to hate or adore him, Trump is just another Hindenburg, a big bag of gas in danger of exploding, which he just what he is doing.
Biden’s approach was prescient; it set the tone, it was a brilliant demonstration that sometimes, the best way to deal with a dangerous bully is to do nothing and watch the air slowly seep out of his tires.
I noticed that the Trump managers have not said a single harsh word about the Republicans who enabled Trump so relentlessly – and who are at least partly responsible for January 6. That is shocking in viciously partisan Washington.
To show their statesmanship, they have been fawning all over Mike Pence as the greatest American hero since George Washington. Let’s see how the Republicans crap on that message.
Biden understands that the way to keep control of the Senate and House of Representatives is not to play patty-cake with people determined to thwart him but to move as aggressively as he can while he can.
At the same time, he has time to do something concrete for ordinary people.
The billionaires are in good shape.
The Democratic impeachment managers have taken the battle for liberal democracy a step farther than Biden has.
Someone they have hired or helped elect has identified what is by far the most important force in politics and social culture – the digital image.
One day we’ll learn the mastermind behind this remarkable production.
This impeachment trial could have been just another in the endless round of partisan bullshit, but it isn’t a back and forth kind of argument – look at the images folks, they tell their own story. This will change some minds, visible or subconsciously.
By the middle of 2021, predict respected market and political researchers, global consumer Internet video traffic will account for 83 percent of all consumer Internet traffic and 86 percent of political gridlock.
More than 74 percent of Americans spent 100 minutes or more watching videos every day.
Over 2 billion logged-in users visit YouTube every month, and every day people tend over a billion hours of video and generate billions of views. More than 70 percent of YouTube users watch from mobile devices.
He who controls video controls politics. It really is as simple as that. Tracey Abrams figured that out and used it brilliantly and successfully in Georgia. There is no known better way to talk to people in America.
The impeachment managers understood that few Americans are ever riveted by speeches in congress, a haven for hollow men and women for the most part, and now, some loopy political extremists.
In focusing on Mike Pence’s persecution by Trump and showing that video of him fleeing the Senate while Trump’s goons were howling for his blood, the Democrats flipped the script. They just look like the good guys.
This was another masterstroke, something I would not have thought possible.
Typically, they would have ignored or attacked Pence, who was Trump’s most devoted puppy. But they are finally trying something different. I think they got it this time. They don’t have to argue it; they can show it.
Americans love to share videos and watch them in more significant numbers more frequently than in modern media’s long and varied history. Videos and images are the national dialogue.
Until Trump, Washington politicians were choking on the old models of communication. Trump and the impeachment managers have changed that. A new model emerges right before our eyes.
Videos are the American language, the American dialogue, how Donald Trump and his bumbling fascist Army persuaded so many millions of Americans that Donald Trump was their grand champion and America’s great hope.
The impeachment videos are riveting; they sucked me in. Equally important, they are fascinating, even entertaining if that can apply to so awful a thing.
They are also significant because the impeachment managers have projected empathy, compassion, decency, and genuine concern. The one thing the fascists (or their Republican wannabees) could never really learn how to fake or do.
The democratic managers made themselves decent, Joe Biden’s approach.
Finally, the advocates of liberal democracy are learning how to present their arguments powerfully and effectively.
It’s almost impossible for the Republicans to lie about the capitol riots or Trump’s role in them. Just watch the videos.
People can now see it’s most troubling and horrifying moments for themselves. That is a powerful use of truth.
The Republicans don’t get to say whether Trump is convicted or not. The times really are changing.
His real judges are out there on youtube and sitting in their living rooms coming to terms with reality for themselves, and in their own way.
The case against Trump was nothing short of brilliant, from the months long buildup of the big lie, to the horrific videos of what was happening in real time matched up with what was going on with Trump. I agree, hopefully, the Democrats finally get it. It surely was powerful video and corresponding verbal accounts as to what we were watching. The way it was presented showed us how it was more horrific than we realized when we watched it in real time on January 6. The commentary gave us the valuable backdrop of what was really happening. A lot of the footage was security camera film that was presented for the first time today. I don’t know how anyone couldn’t be moved by the evidence presented. And you are right, the jury that really matters is the American people. This is video that will be used against every Republican running in the next election who ties themselves with Trump. The Lincoln Project will have a treasure trove of material to use in their ads against Trump sycriveting Another great piece Jon! And it was absolutely riveting drama for sure!
Between Trump’s tweets and those compelling videos, the truth is out there for all to see. If the Senate doesn’t convict him, the court of public opinion will. Yes, everyone deserves a fair trial but do we really need more time to think about this?
Jon…
Marshall McLuhan said a mouthful: “the medium is the message.” Although he provided this insight before the Internet hit the scene, he was on the right track.
On a computer, an image file holds much more information than a printed page. And a video file goes much further, depending on its length. At 30 frames/sec., the fastest rate a human eye discerns, we can’t absorb all the information that passes.
These added capacities and technologies enable us to begin capturing the dimensions of expression. How many words would it take to adequately convey the beauty of a sunset, or to completely describe a facial expression?
With politics, as you said, “There is no known better way to talk to people in America.” It’s difficult to reach your target if you’re not speaking their language.
Today’s new videos did two things. They instilled in me the sense of fear that people trapped in the Capitol must have felt. But they also wove in Trump’s involvement, in an unbroken stream of cause and effect.
What a gold mine in evidence the lawyers have for this case. All the footage and tweets must feel like Christmas for their case. I can’t imagine being on the other side and having to vote against the evidence they keep pulling out of the sack. Have fun living with yourself, Republicans!
While there may not be an impeachment and I wouldn’t speculate as to how this impeachment situation (trial to me speaks of a court of law) will turn out to be, the one thing that stands out more than anything now with the visual display yesterday in Congress, that any senator not supporting impeachment will be left with the stain that is creeping over the Republican party now, deceit, lies, self-serving, supporting the anger and compromised lives of individuals who would continue to believe the lies Trump shouted at every crowd he could collect before him. He was a performer, he was a member of the Actor’s Union. He was a performer in his role as president of the United States. Few people may focus on this reality. He was playing a role. And in this role he will decimate the Republicans who waywardly support and espouse his ‘beliefs’ His beliefs are self-serving and of no benefit to the Republican Party. There will be a stain left over that party, mark my words. They may block an impeachment but to me, the ‘trial’ is already over. With the display of visual reality put before Congress yesterday.
Sandy Proudfoot
Is this to make sure you don’t try to pull a fast one by retreating back to bed? Give those dogs a raise!
Thanks Jon for this excellent post. And you’re right: I saw images from these videos that I did not see on the news on Jan. 6. Very powerful and could not believe at times what I was seeing! I still hope things are on the way to changing for the better for our country. Here’s hoping.
Oh wow, did those videos make me chilled. The first time On tv was frightening, the whole thing yesterday, really hit me in the gut. We all knew it was bad, but how very frightening bad, we all really saw yesterday. And all at the direction of Trump. There’s no way around the fact
I wish I could believe that people will see the horror. I have heard that many still believe t attacks were orchestrated by antifa and BLM groups!
Jon, I couldn’t agree more. I don’t know how Trump’s lawyers can argue a case. The facts are on the screen. I still have a dream though. My dream is that Republican senators will do the right thing and convict Trump. I think this act would unit the country. I know it’s a dream. But just once I would like to see justice prevail when it comes to Trump.