The end is near

| 7:00 pm EST December 24, 2022
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We shouldn’t be too surprised about much of the contents of the House Select Committee’s final report on the January 6 insurrection that ended in criminal referrals for Donald Trump and his cronies. This man was elected to high office for the benefit of the people. Of course, we know he really did it to benefit himself, but he could have at least pretended to care about the people he represented-all of the people, regardless of political leaning or affiliation. Trump showed once and for all on January 6 that his “presidency” was all about him.

Some of the people who worked beside Trump tried to intervene, even as Trump sat on his ass and watched the horror unfold. Cassidy Hutchinson testified that Trump knew these thugs were armed and still encouraged them to march on the Capitol because he knew exactly what they had planned, and he was all for it. As the debacle unfolded, Trump was warned as soon as he returned, and Pat Cipollone intimated that members of Trump’s administration tried for more than two hours to get Trump to call off his goons. He did nothing. Further, Sarah Matthews revealed that Kayleigh McEnany told her that Trump had no interest in encouraging a peaceful protest, which is confirmed by a text from Trump aide Robert Gabriel: “Potus Im sure is loving this.” Putting the final nail in this coffin, Ben Sasse suggested that Trump “was confused about why other people on his team weren’t as excited as he was.” They weren’t excited because what happened that day was wrong. Trump saw it as positive reinforcement of his attempts to overturn the election, while people with sense knew that his attempts to overturn the election were illegal. He was willing to let the Capitol be destroyed and lawmakers hurt or killed so that he could talk about how much his followers love him. Nothing else mattered.

Trump knew what he was doing was illegal. Their claims of voter fraud were false, and they knew it. Hutchinson testified that Trump knew he had lost and that he told Mark Meadows: “I don’t want people to know we lost, Mark. This is embarrassing.” Further, White House lawyer Eric Herschmann and Pence aid Greg Jacob testified that Eastman and Giuliani knew that the plan to challenge the vote was illegal, but they proceeded with it anyway, with Trump’s blessing, making them all co-conspirators in fraud.

All of this turmoil was created for no other purpose than to make Trump feel good about himself after losing. He gave not one thought to the danger he put others in nor the long-term impact his lies and deceit would have on the country. Trump is not only a narcissist; he is a dangerous narcissist. Some believe he will never be brought to justice, but we will have to wait and see if there is enough evidence to make charges stick. If there is, Trump will be foregoing his 2024 run for the White House in favor of defending criminal charges.