FACING THE EASTMAN MEMO. A lot of Republicans are ignoring the hearings being produced by the House Democrats' Jan. 6 committee. Maybe "ignoring" is too strong a word. They're just not paying attention — it's not on their radar screen. They know Democrats and many in the media are very excited about the hearings, but they also know — and they're right about this — that the hearings are a fundamentally political exercise. In the short run, Democrats hope the hearings will help revive their troubled political fortunes for this November's midterm elections. In the long run, Democrats hope the hearings will somehow disqualify former President Donald Trump from running again in 2024.