Maggie Haberman brings us a quote from a Trump senior adviser saying that Trump has lost it, it’s impossible to speak to him, and has just been sitting watching the coverage intently.

We must think for a moment about what a real president would be doing. A real president would be somewhere in the situation room with staff everywhere, making calls to coordinate action to put down the mob. He would be on television every ten minutes, speaking to the nation. Stop! He would be demanding arrests, swift punishment, and justice. As he went into the evening he should be planning about how to ensure the safety of the city in the next two weeks and going forward.

We don’t have a real president and haven’t since Barack Obama and Michelle hit the skies to go on vacation four years ago.

We believe, but cannot prove, that Trump likely sat in front of a TV today, watching intensely, satisfied seeing an attack on his behalf. His people were “fighting harder” as a show of force that history will never forget. We suspect that, as he watched – in the moment, he was encouraged by what he saw. He wanted this country punished! And he got it, to his everlasting shame.

It is possible that by now Trump might worry, a little, that the only person punished today was Donald Trump, to say it with embarrassing understatement. But he didn’t understand it while it happened and still hasn’t reached out to speak to his advisers.

The president, a senior adviser says, has "lost it." He has been almost impossible to talk to throughout the day today, and has been watching the coverage of the Capitol.

— Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) January 7, 2021

Then there is this, that Trump was pleased with what he saw. PLEASED.

Not in this piece but to add to @kaitlancollins reporting, many aides believed Trump was pleased by what he was seeing on TV at the Capitol, as he repeatedly refused requests to get him to say something clearly rejecting the violence. https://t.co/1QsJ9ES0yh

— Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) January 7, 2021

And CNN’s Kaitlan Collins had this frightening bit of news:

White House officials were shaken by Trump's reaction to a mob of his supporters descending on the Capitol today. He was described to me as borderline enthusiastic because it meant the certification was being derailed. It has genuinely freaked people out.

— Kaitlan Collins (@kaitlancollins) January 7, 2021

The Washington Post has already called for Trump’s removal. He should be removed by morning. At the very least we need someone who, at the very least, will reach out to other Americans and stop the violence. Pence will never wipe the Trump stain off himself. But he gave a good speech in the Senate. Let Pence make the decisions from here on out. He won’t be a real president, more like a manager, but he could at least speak to people and manage it.

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Peace, y’all
Jason
[email protected] and on Twitter @JasonMiciak