Across America, Michael Cohen’s testimony was, for many, just one more television show on the flat screens hanging in restaurants and bars.
HIRAM, Ga. — Only time will tell whether Michael Cohen’s testimony to a congressional committee on Wednesday was a blip or a major chapter in the story of Donald Trump’s presidency. But across America, it was, for many, just one more show.
From an Atlanta suburb to Seattle, the hearing played out in closed captions on televisions — another familiar sport to follow, or not. At a Dunkin’ Donuts in Hiram, Ga., the small dining area was packed, but no one was watching. At an oil-change shop, customers glanced up every now and again. A couple of employees watched for a few free minutes on a TV in the cramped waiting area — but only long enough, it seemed, to substantiate their disgust.
“It’s a bunch of B. S. If it was any other president they wouldn’t be doing it,” said one employee, who said he could not give his name because of company policy.
So it went in restaurants, cafes and lounges in this Atlanta suburb, a city of about 4,000 residents in Paulding County, where Mr. Trump captured nearly 70 percent of the vote two years ago. The hearing either was not playing, or was being largely ignored.
But at a Krystal hamburger restaurant in town, Dwight Young, a retired Baptist pastor, and his wife were among the only customers glued to the television.
“He’s trying to save his own neck, you know,” Mr. Young, 88, said of Mr. Cohen, echoing a tweet Mr. Trump had issued earlier about his former personal lawyer, who was convicted of campaign finance crimes and is scheduled to begin a three-year prison sentence in May. “It’s not going to hurt. I don’t think most people believe Mr. Cohen.”
Mr. Young said that he already knew Mr. Trump was not a perfect man. But he said that he and other evangelical Christians were pleased that the president had moved the country to the right the way he had promised.
“Christians voted for him because of the stand he took. The stand on abortion. The stand on the Supreme Court judges,” he said.
Across the country, Marten King, a law student at Seattle’s University of Washington campus, caught a few minutes of the hearing as he cooked breakfast. A while later, he watched with his classmates and professor during a class on federal courts and the federal system.
For Mr. King, 26, the central question was whether Mr. Cohen’s testimony would lead anywhere.
