Thanks to the congressional hearings, we know that when the mob on January 6th shouted “Hang Mike Pence!” and looked for Nancy Pelosi to kill her and ran through the halls of the Capitol seeking to find them and others whom they felt were preventing Trump from getting a second term in office, Trump was fully aware of the mob’s intentions because he was watching those three hours from 1:10 pm to 4:17 pm unfold on the TV in his private dining room. Not only did he not lift a finger to stop the mob, he egged them on, sending out this tweet at 2:24 pm.
This tweet was from 2:24 pm ET Jan 6…
The security camera footage of Pence and his family being whisked out of the Capitol by Secret Service that we saw for the first time today was from 2:26 pm ET pic.twitter.com/udk1cXDsjP
— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) February 10, 2021
The mob took this tweet as support for their murderous intent. That Trump had no qualms about what the mob’s plans were is clear from his reaction to his advisors who were alarmed at what was happening.
Describing events at the White House on the afternoon of 6 January 2021, Cassidy Hutchinson, a former aide to Trump and his chief of staff, Mark Meadows, said: “I remember Pat [Cipollone, the White House counsel] saying something to the effect of, ‘Mark, we need to do something more. They’re literally calling for the vice-president to be fucking hung.’
“And Mark had responded something to the effect of, ‘You heard him, Pat, he thinks Mike deserves it. He doesn’t think they’re doing anything wrong.’
The attempts of the mob to kill Pence, Pelosi and others were ultimately foiled by them being moved quickly to secure locations. But the chilling question remains: Was Trump actually hoping that the killings would happen and that this would enable him to remain in power? His inaction and words during that time suggests that at least as far as Pence, his own vice-president, was concerned, his death was not something that particularly disturbed him.
The mind boggles that anyone could be that deranged but James Risen argues that the hearings leave him convinced that that is the case.
DONALD TRUMP IS a murderous cult leader who incited the mob that attacked the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, hoping that his supporters would kill his own vice president, Mike Pence, and as many members of Congress as possible so that he could become a dictator.
That was the inescapable conclusion from Thursday night’s chilling prime-time, nationally televised hearing of the House January 6 committee. The committee combined a wide range of evidence and testimony to reveal a timeline of the insurrection, showing how Trump eagerly sent his mob to the Capitol and then refused for hours to call them off when they broke into the building. Instead, he wanted to join and lead them.
On January 6, Trump was not much different from Jim Jones at Jonestown, as he urged his rabid followers to kill American democracy.
Trump controlled the insurrection, and he could easily have stopped his cult members from attacking the Capitol, the hearing revealed. But he didn’t want to stop them. For months, he had tried everything to overturn the 2020 election and failed, so now he was willing to try assassination.
Some of the most damning evidence presented during the hearing was audio of insurrectionist leaders and video from inside the Capitol, showing how the rioters were keyed into every Trump tweet in real time and were eager to do his bidding. The evidence showed that the insurrectionists believed — indeed, knew — that they were following Trump’s orders.
…It was hours after the insurrection began — and only after it was clearly starting to lose momentum — that Trump grudgingly made a half-hearted statement urging his supporters to go home.
Some have argued that many people have wished, and even said out loud, that they wanted someone dead or did not care if they died when they were really angry at that person, without necessarily actually desiring that to happen. But in those situations, there is usually not an imminent threat to the person they are angry with. This was different. There was a mob actually seeking out the victim and declaring their intent to kill him and Trump knew it. He was in a position to stop it. And yet he not only did not try to stop it, he seemed to think Pence deserved it.
Pence, Pelosi, and other members of Congress are fortunate that they were not killed that day. There is no question that if they had been physically harmed in any way, Trump’s behavior on that day would be viewed even worse than it is now. But his culpability for his murderous intent should not be ignored simply because his hopes and plans failed.
I am not a lawyer, of course, and I believe that failing to act to prevent a crime is not itself a crime, so Trump may not be criminally liable. But he sure as hell should never, ever, be put in any position of authority.
Some have argued that many people have wished, and even said out loud, that they wanted someone dead or did not care if they died when they were really angry at that person, without necessarily actually desiring that to happen. But in those situations, there is usually not an imminent threat to the person they are angry with. This was different.
In the case of Trump, no, this wasn’t all that different. First, Trump himself probably felt no more responsible for any likely consequences than any of those other people whose emotions overcome their reason for a limited time. He WAS responsible, but not in his own spoiled, childish, overprivileged mind. And second, Trump simply doesn’t have enough self-discipline or continuity of thought to really have anything in his head that could be called a conscious thought-out want or intent. All of this happened because Trump had a bad reaction to hearing the word “no,” and he had the power and enough support to bowl over anyone else’s attempts to sit him down and talk any sense into him. I really don’t think Trump even cared enough to want or not want any particular person dead; he said what he said to get what he wanted, and, as usual, didn’t even care whether it was true or even consistent with what he’d said the day before.
This is not always the case. There are concepts such as “aiding and abetting” that are considered crimes.
In the realm of auto crashes, a state I used to reside in had an offense of “failing to prevent an accident.”
IANAL, but it seems to me that failing to stop a crime is a illegal if it is in furtherance of a conspiracy to commit the crime.
Playing psychologist here: naaah, he’s not “murderous”.
He’s “not-give-a-hooteous”. That is, he does not care, indeed he does not acknowledge other living beings, apart from himself. Ok, defining Pence as “living” is a bit of a stretch, but bear with me.
I dare say it’s clear by now, that his universe has only one person in it: himself. Any other person or object is just shadows, probably not even that if they are not immediately convenient to him, so having someone lynched would not even register on his (alleged) sensorium. How this condition could be called, I have no idea… solipsism maybe?
In any case, he’s got it baaaad.
How this condition could be called, I have no idea… solipsism maybe?
“Malignant narcissism”
@#4 outis, expanding on @5; psychologist Martin Gartner already said so in 2017: Donald Trump’s malignant narcissism is toxic
Background:
healthline.com: Unpacking Malignant Narcissism
Wikipedia: John Gartner
Oops. Martin Gartner --> John Gartner
This is a guy who talked about murdering a wheelchair granny in Times Square with an automatic weapon and pissing on her corpse and getting away with it.
The answer, it is yes.
How many rape accusers has Mr grab ‘em paid off? This man is a living embodiment of toxic masculinity, who very clearly wanted congress attacked violently. Why else would he complain that ‘his people’ were getting caught by the magnetic weapons detectors.
If he was a dog he would have been put down long ago.
The guy does not care about those he has to step on to get what HE wants. Nor does he care about those who he uses at tools to achieve HIS goals.
Did he actually want them murdered?
Possibly not, but I agree with outis @4 in that I don’t think he would care if they were.
Will he be penalised for his actions stirring up the mob, or his inaction once they were stirred up by his big-lie spoon?