The 6 January hearings will not reflect well on former president Trump

Well, whaddya know – as they say in America. Well, shortly the US congressional committee on the attempted insurrection on 6 January 2020 will tell the world exactly what it knows about the events of that traumatic day, after almost a year of investigation.

Also, this being America, a Hollywood-style treatment is promised for the video and documentary evidence collected by the committee, and it will all be broadcast and streamed in prime time. The only thing missing will be live appearances by Madonna, Kim Kardashian and Tom Hanks.

So it will be quite a show, featuring interviews with Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner, among others directly and indirectly involved. Sensational as all this will be, it may be followed by evidence sessions featuring the protesters, former vice president Mike Pence, members of Congress and, most tantalisingly, former president Donald Trump. It has all the makings of the ultimate media circus, but the issues at stake could scarcely be more critical.

Republicans, or at least that large swathe of them who are virtual hostages of Mr Trump, hope and believe that the American people are bored with such investigations, which are derided by Mr Trump as “a witch hunt”. There may be some truth in that, if only because they have to worry about inflation (especially fuel prices), and a prospective conflict by proxy with Russia. The midterm elections in November will offer an opportunity for them to register their disapproval of President Biden, if they wish.

However, it is also true that a very many moderate Republican voters, especially women, were always wary of Donald Trump and appalled at the way he spoke to the mob on that date, one that will live on in infamy. Thanks to the congressional inquiries, future scheduled public hearings of other witnesses and the gathering of further evidence, Americans will learn much more about the role the former president and his circle played as the crowd went out of control and stormed the Capitol.

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They will find out what, if anything, Mr Trump did to restrain these violent, would-be revolutionary rebels, or even what he secretly did to spur them on.

The continual reminders of the lunacies of the final days of his presidency will not reflect well on Mr Trump, and will surely harm his chances of a comeback in 2024. Of course, his remaining supporters have the fanatical zeal of any cult, and will either dismiss the revelations as “fake news” or will still feel that the insurgency was morally justified because there really was a giant conspiracy to “steal” the election, despite that being based on Mr Trump’s misunderstanding of the way in which postal voting works.

Yet there will be many others whose memories of the excesses of the Trump administration may have faded, and who will need a refresher course in just how dangerous a personality this childish narcissist actually is. Let the show begin.