Cheney analyzed the things Trump did and did not do on January 6, 2021 during the riot at the Capitol. She had some interesting comments to make about that.
She said, that during the violence on the Capitol Trump knew what was going on. His advisors all urged him to intervene to urge his followers to stop the violence. Not until it had been ongoing for many hours did he finally issue a lame appeal to them to stop the violence long after the damage had been done. His advisors knew what Trump should do, but Trump refused to do the right thing. This should surprise no one. Trump was never famous for doing the right thing. Trump was famous for doing what appealed to him and what h thought was in his own best interests.
Leaders on Capitol Hill begged President Trump for help including Republican House leader Kevin McCarthy who admitted he was “scared.” Every one of the politicians was scared. Their lives were at risk in the presence of a violent unruly mob. McCarthy called multiple members of Trump’s family after he could not persuade the president himself.
As Cheney said,
“Not only did Trump refuse to tell the mob to leave the capitol, he placed no call to any element of the United States government to instruct that the Capitol be defended. He did not call his Secretary of Defense on January 6th ; he did not talk to his Attorney General; he did not talk to the Department of Homeland Security. President Trump gave no order to employ the National Guard that day and he made no effort to work with the Department of Justice to coordinate and deploy law enforcement assets, but Vice-President Pence did each of those things.”
As Cheney told the Select Committee of the House of Representatives, President Trump did nothing to constrain the rioters. He told them by video that he loved them. It is impossible not to reach the conclusion that what was happening at the Capitol that day had his full approval. He approved of the violence he had instigated. As Cheney said, “It was only after multiple hours of violence President Trump finally released a video instructing the violent mob to leave, and as he did so he said, “We love you and you are very special.”
This is what he did while members of the House and Senate feared for their lives and rioters were rampaging and calling for Mike Pence to be hanged. And this man wants to be president again. And millions of Americans are fine with that.