Donald Trump is getting so steamed up watching the January 6 hearings that he’s almost reached the screaming point. The situation is becoming so intense, in fact, that it’s led Business Insider [1] to coin a new phrase, saying that he’s “hate-watching” the proceedings.
The former president has “reached the point of being about to scream at the TV,” as he watches the proceedings, an unnamed advisor told The Washington Post. [2]
Another unnamed insider told the newspaper that Trump regularly complains that “there’s no one to defend me,” at the hearings, which continue to draw widespread media coverage.
But one person who’s also familiar with the situation is sounding a different note, telling Insider isn’t perturbed by the hearings.
“This is not true,” the source said. “He has barely watched any of the hearings at all.”
This sure doesn’t sound like Trump though. Guess I’ll have to take this unnamed source’s word for it.
There is, however, one bone of contention for the ex-president’s advisors: They are finding this a frustrating situation because they have no insight into the committee’s procedures and they aren’t receiving advance notice of what’s going to be next, the Post reports.
The only Republicans on the panel are Reps. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) and Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) are vehemently anti-Trump and have been very vocal in criticizing him.
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy is the main focus of Trump’s anger, and this stems from McCarthy’s decision to boycott the committee when it was formed. This means there are no-pro-Trump Republicans on the panel.
Trump has even asserted this in public, and while he avoided attacking McCarthy directly, he characterized [3] McCarthy’s actions as a mistake.
And McCarthy is now encouraging his fellow GOPers not to discuss the hearings, as if somehow by not talking about them they will disappear. His new tactic is to deflect questions about the committee’s findings and instead bring up inflation, and high gas prices. This is in concert with the rest of the GOP, who are all blaming this on President Joe Biden.
McCarthy’s actions are in contrast to Trump’s. The former president is insisting on equal time and wants the opportunity to launch a vocal counterattack. He’s demanding [4] a TV platform where he can make claims that have long ago been widely debunked.
He said [5] as much on his social-media platform Truth Social: “I am hereby demanding EQUAL TIME to spell out the massive VOTER FRAUD & Dem Security Breach!”
Trump is, of course, well known for spending hours each day watching TV news, constantly reviewing how his press conferences and speeches are received. And I don’t know how he found time to do this, but it’s reported [6] that he spent roughly seven hours a day watching TV, setting his mornings around doing this.
I guess he somehow found time to do that in-between being president and playing golf.