Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa.

I hate to say it, but I was wrong about when the farcical House's January 6 Committee would call it a day.

Previously, I had written that the laughably lauded lefty lumpenausschuss would wrap things up in September to give a desperately needed defibrillator jolt to the Democrats before the November vote.

After Hurricane Ian delayed the last week in September wrap-up(ish) meetings, that "September surprise" option evaporated, leaving the ThumpBumpDump Trump-ists on the committee desperately searching for some sort of pre-midterm relevance.

And whaddayaknow?  They found something to grab a headline and cling to the news cycle: let's subpoena former president Donald Trump.

Since the whole thing was about Trump supposedly trying to violently overturn the results of the 2020 election, flush the whole concept of American democracy, and remain in office surrounded by piles of ill-gotten cash and mounds of Russian hookers until his death — at which point Ivanka would be installed — it would seem that thinking about asking to talk to him a bit earlier in the process would have aided the committee's quest for the truth.

But, serendipitously, they did not, so they now have a headline to offer the media.  True, the D.C. media will have to hold off on running their already written "Trump Really, Really, Really Did It and Liz Cheney Is a Hero" stories, but all they have to do is change a few dates and run them anyway — easy peasy.  Like every other Demon Trump article ever.

The subpoena announcement is good for more than just one headline.  Expect in the coming days to see stories about Trump fighting the subpoena, how this will impact his "battle" with the FBI, will he plead the Fifth, if he shows up what a circus it will be, can Liz come back as a special adviser if it runs past the end of her term, what lies will Trump tell, how skeevy his lawyers are, how many times will he commit perjury, when will he be — finally and certainly this time — sent to prison, and on and on.

What will also be emphasized is the need for the Democrats to prevail in the midterms to make sure the committee can continue its crucial work to end the existential threat to democracy that is Donald Trump and avoid a paradigm shift toward fascism.  (The committee's authorization ends at the close of session on December 31, so unless a hive-mind A.I. android clone of Nancy Pelosi manages to pod-people itself into the body of incoming speaker Kevin McCarthy on January 2, no more committee.)

Thankfully, the committee chair — didn't catch the name, doesn't matter anyway — assured the nation this afternoon that the subpoena is not about party or politics, but only a search for the truth.

Phew — I feel better now.

Thomas Buckley is the former mayor of Lake Elsinore, Cal. and a former newspaper reporter.  He is currently the operator of a small communications and planning consultancy and can be reached directly at planbuckley@gmail.com. You can read more of his work at https://thomas699.substack.com.

Image: Gage Skidmore via Flickr, CC BY-SA 2.0.