Trump aides reportedly conclude he is 'mentally unreachable'
President Trump reportedly spent much of Wednesday "cocooned" at the White House as his supporters stormed the Capitol, and his aides say he has become "mentally unreachable."
While a pro-Trump mob breached the Capitol building on Wednesday, disrupting Congress' session to certify President-elect Joe Biden as the winner of the 2020 election and leaving four people dead, Trump was "cocooned at the White House and listening only to a small coterie of loyal aides," all while resisting calls from advisers to condemn the rioters, The Washington Post reports.
"He kept saying: 'The vast majority of them are peaceful,'" an administration official told the Post. "'What about the riots this summer? What about the other side? No one cared when they were rioting. My people are peaceful. My people aren't thugs.' He didn't want to condemn his people."
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.
Now, Axios reports that some of Trump's "stalwart aides and confidants" have "given up trying to communicate with him" altogether, "considering him mentally unreachable."
"His closest friends and paid White House officials — many of the Trumpiest Trumpers we know — are avoiding him like the plague," Axios writes, adding, "The president's final days in office will be lonely ones."
Although Trump did ultimately release a video on Twitter in which he called on those rioting in the Capitol to go home, the video also again included his false claims that the election was stolen. According to the Post, aides had asked Trump not to include these false claims in the statement, but he went off script and threw them in anyway. Ultimately, some aides believe Trump "did irreparable damage to his presidency and legacy," the Post writes, with an administration official saying, "He was a total monster today."
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Brendan worked as a culture writer at The Week from 2018 to 2023, covering the entertainment industry, including film reviews, television recaps, awards season, the box office, major movie franchises and Hollywood gossip. He has written about film and television for outlets including Bloody Disgusting, Showbiz Cheat Sheet, Heavy and The Celebrity Cafe.
-
How will China’s $1 trillion trade surplus change the world economy?Today’s Big Question Europe may impose its own tariffs
-
‘Autarky and nostalgia aren’t cure-alls’Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
Japan’s Princess Aiko is a national star. Her fans want even more.IN THE SPOTLIGHT Fresh off her first solo state visit to Laos, Princess Aiko has become the face of a Japanese royal family facing 21st-century obsolescence
-
Benin thwarts coup attemptSpeed Read President Patrice Talon condemned an attempted coup that was foiled by the West African country’s army
-
Femicide: Italy’s newest crimeThe Explainer Landmark law to criminalise murder of a woman as an ‘act of hatred’ or ‘subjugation’ but critics say Italy is still deeply patriarchal
-
Brazil’s Bolsonaro behind bars after appeals run outSpeed Read He will serve 27 years in prison
-
Americans traveling abroad face renewed criticism in the Trump eraThe Explainer Some of Trump’s behavior has Americans being questioned
-
UN Security Council backs Trump’s Gaza peace planSpeed Read The United Nations voted 13-0 to endorse President Donald Trump’s 20-point plan to withdraw Israeli troops from Gaza
-
Chile picks leftist, far-right candidates for runoff voteSpeed Read The presidential runoff election will be between Jeannette Jara, a progressive from President Gabriel Boric’s governing coalition, and far-right former congressman José Antonio Kast
-
Venezuela mobilizes as top US warship nearsSpeed Read The largest and most advanced US aircraft carrier, the USS Gerald R. Ford, has entered the Caribbean and put Venezuela on high alert
-
Nigeria confused by Trump invasion threatSpeed Read Trump has claimed the country is persecuting Christians
