President Donald Trump addressing his supporters, after supporters stormed the US Capitol in Washington, DC
Credit: Twitter
Wednesday night was a lonely one for Donald Trump.
Cut off from Twitter and Facebook — the social media platforms the president has used to communicate with supporters — and increasingly politically isolated, Mr Trump was left to stew alone.
He had started the day in a combative mood. Whether he truly believed Vice President Mike Pence could help decertify the vote in Congress is unclear, but he was clearly buoyed by the prospect.
An exhilarated Mr Trump urged the tens of thousands gathered in Washington DC for a "Save America" rally to march to the Capitol. “Let’s go together!,” he told them.
President Donald Trumps supporters who breached security and entered the Capitol building
Credit: Anadolu
He did not join them, however, instead returning to the White House, where he spent the rest of the day fixed on the large screen TV in the West Wing, watching the carnage play out in real time.
A person close to the president told the Telegraph it was almost impossible to get through to Mr Trump for the rest of the day. “He didn’t want to speak to anyone, and when he did, none of what he was saying made much sense,” they said.
Mr Trump returned furious with Mr Pence, who had told him he just could not do what his boss was asking. The president, a senior adviser told the New York Times’ Maggie Haberman, "lost it."
As the mob outside the Capitol began breaking through the police’s flimsy barriers, his aides began panicking. They pleaded with him to send in the National Guard, as he had done for the Black Lives Matter protesters over the summer.
Mr Trump resisted the calls for some time, sources say, revelling in the chaos he had been able to unleash. According to some reports, staffers got the impression Mr Trump wanted to burn the whole place down on his way out.
In the meantime, staff worked on convincing him to put out a video address telling his supporters to go home, the only thing they believed could help put an end to what had now become a full-blown siege.
According to Vanity Fair, Pat Cipollone, White House Counsel, spent the afternoon urging officials not to speak to Mr Trump or offer any words of support for his “coup attempt”, so they could reduce the chance they could be prosecuted later for treason under the Sedition Act.
President Trump told supporters "you will never take our country back with weakness" at a rally near the White House, before urging them to march on the Capitol
Credit: Shutterstock
The list of staff resignations grew by the hour, compounding Mr Trump’s isolation. First came Stephanie Grisham, First Lady Melania Trump’s Chief of Staff, followed shortly by Matt Pottinger, Deputy National Security Adviser, Rickie Niceta, Social Secretary, Sarah Matthews, Deputy Press Secretary, and finally Mick Mulvaney, special envoy to Northern Ireland.
“I can’t do it, I can’t stay,” Mr Mulvaney, the president’s former chief of staff, wrote in a letter.
Fuelled by a deepening paranoia, Mr Trump began ordering out “disloyal” White House staff, including Mark Short, Mr Pence’s chief of staff, believing he had wronged him by giving advice to the vice president to follow the Constitution as he presided over the Electoral College certification session.
Mr Trump would have been most disappointed by his own appointees, with whom he is still considered to be close.
Alyssa Farah, until recently a White House spokesperson, tweeted “Dear MAGA- I am one of you (…) But I need you to hear me: the Election was NOT stolen. We lost.”
Ms Farah was joined in condemnation by longtime Trump adviser, Kelly Anne Conway, and Chris Christie, the former New Jersey mayor who had been on his election debate prep team.
Mr Trump returned to Twitter once again to address his loyal army of fans. His words were considered incendiary by the social media giant, which issued an unprecedented temporary lock on his account.
For the first time, the world was forced to guess what the US president may be thinking.
With Mr Trump unable to communicate directly to the nation, a statement was put out overnight by Dan Scavino, Deputy Chief of Staff, announcing that Mr Trump would now begin a peaceful transition of power.
By Thursday morning, Mr Trump was desperate to get the message out that he was not to be silenced. He called into a Republican National Committee breakfast in Florida and apologised for his absence. He was reportedly put on speakerphone and received rapturous applause.
Back at the White House, remaining staffers were quietly resigned. The time had passed to quit in protest, they would now be riding out the storm until January 20.
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