It was obvious when the Capitol riot took place on Jan. 6, 2021, that its aftereffects would last for a long time. The prosecutions alone would be lengthy, and indeed, they are still underway and will be for the foreseeable future. Politically, from the beginning, one party, the Republicans, had an incentive to move on, while the other, the Democrats, had an incentive to dwell on Jan. 6 for as long as possible. And indeed, for the last two years, Republicans have sought to move on, while Democrats have sought to dwell on Jan. 6 for as long as possible. Now, on the second anniversary of Jan. 6, there is a new poll about the public's attitudes toward the events of that day and how they have reverberated ever since. The results show even as the event recedes into the past, there will be no moving on — at least not as long as Jan. 6 has political utility for one party.

Put it together, and the shape of the public's attitudes is pretty clear. Republicans and Democrats are on opposite sides of the Jan. 6 question, and independents are split right down the middle. It is hard to imagine a more perfectly partisan issue. As politics goes forward and the 2024 race begins in earnest, we are likely to see more of the same on Jan. 6: Republicans will seek to move on, Democrats will seek to exploit it politically, and independents will be divided. We are now entering Year 3 of Jan. 6. There will be more. Meanwhile, the House Jan. 6 committee is out of business and, as predicted, did not release all of the information it gathered. In the days leading up to the Republican takeover of the House, the committee released transcripts of interviews with about 280 of the 1,000 witnesses it interviewed. Some large number of the 720 unreleased interviews were not transcribed, but the committee most certainly had notes from them, which were not released. Plus, the New York Times reported, "Lawmakers said they withheld certain transcripts that contained sensitive information." What does "sensitive" mean? That was totally up to the committee's discretion. Beyond that, the committee released a lot of the supporting information connected to footnotes in its final report. But that was all. If people thought the committee's investigation would end in a burst of full transparency, they were mistaken.

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