Post Politics Now: After dramatic first night, Jan. 6 panel plans several more high-profile hearings
Trump, [Rep. Liz] Cheney said during Thursday’s hearing, “did not call his secretary of defense,” “did not talk to his attorney general,” “did not talk to the Department of Homeland Security,” “gave no order to deploy the National Guard that day,” and “made no effort to work with the Department of Justice to coordinate and display and deploy law enforcement assets.”
[Then Vice President] Pence demanded action. Trump demanded nothing.
Why? Why wouldn’t the president want immediate action to stem the violence? Messages from allies were flooding his chief of staff’s phone, demanding he do something. But he didn’t. Why not?
We know the probable answer, of course. Trump didn’t take any action because he preferred the riot to the vote-counting. In a conversation with House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) as the riot was underway, McCarthy demanded that Trump take action to halt the attack.
“I guess these people are more upset about the election than you are,” Trump told him according to legislators who spoke with McCarthy…
Even setting aside any blame Trump deserved for the riot, he had a motive for allowing it to continue and the evidence suggests that he took no action to prevent it from doing so. To continue the initial analogy: he stood by holding a fire extinguisher as the fire continued to burn — at times roasting marshmallows to make s’mores.
