Even Stephen Miller reportedly thinks today was bad
There appears to have been a major shift in Washington, with the breach at the Capitol marking a turning point that even President Trump's most loyal aides can't ignore.
A mob, incited by Trump, stormed the Capitol as part of the doomed attempt to overturn the election results. This caused near universal outrage, with Democrats and Republican decrying the violence. Trump, meanwhile, reportedly raged against Vice President Mike Pence for not blocking the Electoral College certification and publicly told his supporters they were "very special" and he loved them.
Some staffers contemplated leaving the White House, while several others, including first lady Melania Trump's chief of staff Stephanie Grisham, sprang into action, quickly submitting their resignation letters. Vanity Fair's Gabriel Sherman reports that even senior adviser Stephen Miller, the immigration hardliner who crafted Trump's travel ban and pushed to separate migrant families at the border, "told one Republican that it was a terrible day."
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
It's going to be hard for Trump to find sympathy anywhere, Sherman reports. Many Republican officials blame him for the GOP losing both of Georgia's Senate seats, due to Trump repeatedly saying the state rigged the presidential election. "When Trump took office, we had the White House and both branches of Congress," one Republican strategist told Sherman. "Now we have nothing. He inherited a Lamborghini and treated it like a lawn mower."
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
-
The week’s best photosIn Pictures A man's best friend, the elephants in the room, and more
-
A TikTok trend has Gen Z men leaving streetwear behind for more preppy attireThe Explainer More than a zipper: Young Black men embrace the ‘quarter-zip movement‘
-
Codeword: December 12, 2025The daily codeword puzzle from The Week
-
Democrat files to impeach RFK Jr.Speed Read Rep. Haley Stevens filed articles of impeachment against Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
-
$1M ‘Trump Gold Card’ goes live amid travel rule furorSpeed Read The new gold card visa offers an expedited path to citizenship in exchange for $1 million
-
US seizes oil tanker off VenezuelaSpeed Read The seizure was a significant escalation in the pressure campaign against Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro
-
Judge orders release of Ghislaine Maxwell recordsSpeed Read The grand jury records from the 2019 prosecution of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein will be made public
-
Miami elects first Democratic mayor in 28 yearsSpeed Read Eileen Higgins, Miami’s first woman mayor, focused on affordability and Trump’s immigration crackdown in her campaign
-
Ex-FBI agents sue Patel over protest firingspeed read The former FBI agents were fired for kneeling during a 2020 racial justice protest for ‘apolitical tactical reasons’
-
Trump unveils $12B bailout for tariff-hit farmersSpeed Read The president continues to insist that his tariff policy is working
-
Trump’s Comey case dealt new setbackspeed read A federal judge ruled that key evidence could not be used in an effort to reindict former FBI Director James Comey
