Day 6

Yesterday was the 6th installment of the House January 6 Committee hearings. It featured testimony by Cassidy Hutchinson, the assistant to Trump's White House Chief of Staff, Mark Meadows.

You should watch the whole thing, of course, but what stood out to me was ...

Members of the crowd attending Trump's rally at the Ellipse were armed with pistols and AR-15s, among other weapons. The Secret Service was aware of this and Trump was also aware of this.

These armed people were staying on the outskirts of the rally because they didn't want to pass through the magnetometers and surrender their weapons. Trump told the Secret Service to remove the "mags" so that the armed members of the crowd could come closer, saying "I don't F-ing care that they have weapons. They're not here to hurt me". He said he wanted them all to march together to the Capitol from the Ellipse, him leading.

But Trump's security detail and White House advisors decided it wasn't a good idea for Trump to go to the Capitol and refused to allow him to go. Trump was so upset by this, he tried to take control of the wheel of the car and lunged at a Secret Service agent's neck.

So .... Trump made sure the mob at his rally remained armed with weapons that included AR-15s (the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers having already begun breaking into the Capitol). Trump planned to lead this armed mob to the Capitol, after a speech in which he encouraged them to "fight like hell". When he wasn't allowed to go, he threw a tantrum and refused to call in the National Guard, as he watched on tv as the mob at the Capitol hunted down Mike Pense.

And Republicans still want to re-elect him.