Every so often, a news story stops being a story and turns into political theater.
It doesn’t start with a breakthrough. It starts with timing. A document request here. A hearing announcement there. Then the cycle kicks in — headlines multiply, panels assemble, social media divides into predictable camps, and suddenly we’re told this is the most urgent issue of the moment.
Not because something new happened — but because the incentives finally aligned.
The Triangle That Drives the Drama
Most political theater lives inside a simple triangle:
- Politics wants leverage
- Media wants attention
- Institutions want cover
When all three benefit at the same time, volume replaces substance. Urgency replaces clarity. And the public is promised accountability without ever being shown results.
Hearings become performances.
Statements are crafted to sound serious without saying much.
And “transparency” becomes a slogan instead of an outcome.
When the Narrative Becomes the Product
Here’s the part rarely acknowledged:
A story doesn’t need resolution to be useful.
It only needs to:
- Raise suspicion
- Force reactions
- Keep opponents off balance
- Generate continuous coverage
At that point, the story itself becomes the product. Facts become optional. Conclusions are postponed indefinitely. And the lack of answers is framed as justification for even more noise.
Round and round it goes.
Why the Public Is Tuning Out
Most people aren’t asking for perfection. They’re asking for progress.
They can tell the difference between:
- A problem being worked
- And a problem being worked over
They notice when hearings produce headlines but no legislation.
When outrage is loud but outcomes are silent.
When the same unresolved issues resurface every election cycle, dressed up as urgency.
That’s not disagreement driving cynicism — it’s fatigue.
A Sharper Reality Check
Congress wasn’t elected to generate content.
It wasn’t sent to Washington to audition for cable news.
And it certainly wasn’t hired to keep old stories alive while real work waits.
If approval ratings are scraping the floor, it’s not because voters are uninformed.
It’s because they feel unserved.
At some point, drama stops looking like accountability and starts looking like avoidance.
The Real Lesson
When politics, media, and incentives align, the noise gets louder — but the substance disappears.
And people notice.
Credibility won’t be restored through another hearing teaser, another press conference, or another cycle of implication without conclusion.
It comes from doing the work.
Quietly.
Consistently.
Without a camera pointed at it.
Because leadership isn’t about controlling the narrative.
It’s about results.
And right now, the ratings say the audience isn’t buying the show.