Even with the Epstein drama still unfolding, MAGA Republicans are making plans to consolidate their hold on the American psyche. They know, because Donald Trump has invested a lot of time and energy in this project, that their marching orders are to rewrite history. They have to reframe the January 6 insurrection, Trump’s role in it, and their role in it, to ensure Trump’s place in history. And they’re ready to do it.

That means that the House will vote on the creation of a new subcommittee (after it returns from the prolonged break designed to let Epstein fever die down). The effort has been underway since January, but it stalled on the question of what the subcommittee’s ambit would be. Politico is reporting that the White House intervened and a deal has been struck to allow the issuance of subpoenas to compel testimony or the production of information. Georgia Republican Barry Loudermilk will be at the helm. Previously, in December 2024, a House subcommittee that Loudermilk led released a 128-page report calling for the prosecution of Liz Cheney because of her role on the January 6 Committee.

The goal of Loudermilk’s new endeavor is simple. MAGA has apparently read, or at least been told about, George Orwell’s 1984: “Every record has been destroyed or falsified, every book rewritten, every picture has been repainted, every statue and street building has been renamed, every date has been altered. And the process is continuing day by day and minute by minute. History has stopped. Nothing exists except an endless present in which the Party is always right.” That’s precisely where we are.

Trump has continuously claimed, despite all the evidence to the contrary, that Democrats launched an attack on him. In preparation for this new erasure of history, he has already pardoned or commuted sentences for January 6 defendants, including those convicted of seditious conspiracy. And Loudermilk told reporters that it was Trump who insisted on getting the subcommittee’s work underway and that he was disappointed that it hadn’t already begun.

Trump is intent on rewriting history so he can whitewash his legacy. He continues to believe that if he tells the lies for long enough, they will morph into truth, at least in the minds of the public. Today, during a scrum, he told reporters: “Everything is fake with the Democrats.” Then, he spoke with reporters before he took off for Scotland, on the taxpayers’ nickel, to promote his Scottish golf courses. If we’re not careful, the fake news is going to be the history that is taught to our children. It’s more important than ever to stay informed, to stay alert, and to share what you’re seeing with the people around you.