Tuesday's fiery exchange between Attorney General Pam Bondi and Democrat Senator Alex Padilla may have gotten some headlines, but it didn't reveal anything new about American politics.
It simply confirmed what every casual observer already knows:
Washington is little more than a stage.
Hearings that are supposed to hold leaders accountable have devolved into televised sparring matches designed entirely for social media clips and fundraising emails.
What unfolded between Bondi and Padilla was the perfect example. It wasn't oversight; it was optics. Both participants were obviously looking beyond one another, acutely aware that their true audience wasn't in the Senate chamber, but behind the camera lens.
Padilla interrupted. Bondi fired back. Both scored their points. Each had a team of social media image cultivators back in the office promptly clipping, captioning, and circulating the spectacle for whichever partisan crowd needed affirmation that their side "won" the exchange.
That's all these hearings have been for far too long now - a theater where everyone knows their role.
Rather than preparing questions to illuminate truth, lawmakers prepare performances to generate soundbites. Upon receiving their summons, witnesses don't craft thoughtful answers, they work with strategists to anticipate ambushes. The entire exercise is about momentary dominance, not meaningful dialogue.
To be clear, and as much as we don't want to admit this, the phenomenon isn't unique to one party or personality. Republicans and Democrats alike have perfected this act. Remember Democrat Cory Booker's "Spartacus moment" during the Kavanaugh confirmation hearings? Or Republican Ted Cruz's prosecutorial interrogations of Attorney General Merrick Garland, clearly scripted for his next campaign reel? Each of these moments was less about inquiry and more about image, crafted not to persuade colleagues in the room but to impress supporters at home.
And it works. We reward this behavior. I know I'm guilty of it myself. Every viral exchange is followed by a flurry of online applause and a flood of donations. Our politics now runs on adrenaline and outrage. The louder and more uncomfortable the confrontation, the more it's shared. The more it's shared, the more it's monetized.
We may be addicted to it, but there's no denying that cycle is corrosive, and it's killing any hope of serious governance.
We need to move beyond it. Governance is serious work, not showmanship. Our republic wasn't designed to be reality television. Oversight hearings should be about accountability, evidence, and thoughtful exchange, not posturing. Anyone actually serious about "draining the swamp" and purging D.C. of charlatans and swindlers, any lawmakers truly wanting to reorient the culture of Washington toward substance, there is one surprisingly simple step we can take in that direction:
Turn off the cameras.
All of them. No more filming these public events. Let confirmation and oversight hearings, House speeches and Senate debates take after Supreme Court hearings: keep written transcripts for public record because transparency matters, but stop televising these hearings. Remove the incentive to perform. Without the spotlight, the value of a person's contribution would rest on the quality of their thought, not the drama of their delivery. No, it wouldn't end political grandstanding entirely, but it would at least make it less profitable.
Imagine a Senate hearing where the only record of your participation is your words, not your facial expressions, not your rehearsed outrage, not the number of times your staff can clip you owning the other side. You might actually choose your words more carefully. You might even listen.
There was a time when politics prized persuasion over performance. It's time to rediscover that. The problems facing our nation - things like debt, security, and moral decay - aren't going to be solved by who can yell the loudest or go viral the fastest. They'll be solved by thoughtful men and women serious about governing.
Until we turn off the cameras, I'm afraid we'll keep getting more heat than light, and elected officials far better at performing than leading.
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Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Not the Bee or any of its affiliates.
