(CNN) The day America realized how dangerous Donald Trump is

The day America realized how dangerous Donald Trump is

(CNN)When the history of the 45th presidency is written, Wednesday, January 6, will go down as the day America realized how dangerous President Donald Trump really is.
In the span of hours, the country finally witnessed the price of its five-year experiment turning its election process into a reality show that produced an unhinged megalomanic as commander-in-chief who amassed so much power through his lies and fear-mongering that he was able to engineer an insurrection as a final act that left democracy dangling by a thread.
Wednesday's siege at the Capitol marked the culmination of Trump's years-long quest to cultivate a fiercely loyal base that would do anything for him by playing on their fears and resentments as he lured them into believing his incessant lies about the sinister motives of government, election fraud and his own conduct.
The consequences were deadly: five people have died as a result of Wednesday's riot, including a Capitol Police officer. Some of Trump's supporters were armed and ready for war: an Alabama man allegedly parked a pickup truck with 11 homemade bombs, an assault rifle and a handgun two blocks from the Capitol hours before authorities discovered it, according to federal prosecutors. Another man allegedly showed up with an assault rifle and hundreds of rounds of ammunition, telling acquaintances he wanted to shoot or run over House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Pipe bombs were found near the headquarters of the Republican National Committee and the Democratic National Committee as authorities tried to dispel the mob and secure the Capitol.
But three days later, Trump appears no more aware of the consequences of his actions than on the day of the riot when he delighted in the mayhem. Bunkered at the White House with an ever-shrinking circle of aides, he has offered no remorse for inciting the crowd and offered only a forced denunciation of their actions. Aides, weary and disgusted, refuse to come near him. His central line to the outside world, Twitter, was severed Friday night. People who admired him, worked for him and followed him down dark paths before now say he has crossed into a delusional place, entirely detached from reality.

https://www.thewyco.com/general/the-day-america-realized-how-dangerous-donald-trump-is-10-01-2021
https://www.guest-articles.com/anime/the-day-america-realized-how-dangerous-donald-trump-is-10-01-2021
https://medium.com/@liana.iftri11/republican-sen-ben-sasse-of-nebraska-c546c0ef43d2
https://steemit.com/life/@teemsleciuy1/the-day-america-realized-how-dangerous-donald-trump-is

In fact as the siege unfolded, Trump demonstrated the callous depths of his narcissism by trying to pressure senators to derail the affirmation of the election results, as they feared for their safety in the midst of a riot he had incited.
CNN reported Friday that Trump mistakenly called Republican Sen. Mike Lee on his personal cell phone as the rampage was unfolding while trying to reach Sen. Tommy Tuberville, a newly elected Republican from Alabama. Lee fielded the President's call shortly after 2 p.m. ET, at a time when senators had been evacuated from the Senate floor to protect them from the approaching mob. Lee handed Tuberville his phone, a spokesman for the senator confirmed to CNN, and the President proceeded to try to convince Tuberville to slow down the certification of the Electoral College vote. The call ended when the senators were moved to a secure location.
At the White House, Trump's daughter and senior adviser Ivanka Trump and chief of staff Mark Meadows tried to convince Trump to record a message that would direct the rioters to stand down.
But the resulting message satisfied no one as he ad-libbed, telling the insurgents who had stormed the Capitol: "We love you. You're very special."
On Thursday, the wave of administration resignations and condemnations of the President by former Trump staffers continued as shaken staff members cited real concerns about the stability and continuity of government. On Capitol Hill, GOP lawmakers expressed anger about Trump's role in that dark moment in the country's history.
Trump went about his business, including awarding the Presidential Medal of Freedom to a pair of professional golfers in the East Room. His attempts to proceed as normal angered some aides even further.
With the President increasingly isolated, Trump's aides, including his daughter, Meadows and White House Counsel Pat Cipollone, warned him that he was in real danger of being removed or impeached. Though reluctant to denounce his supporters, he agreed to record a second video released Thursday where he acknowledged a new administration is coming -- without congratulating Biden. (Cipollone is now among those who are considering resigning, two sources familiar with his thinking told CNN's Pamela Brown.)
But Trump's thinking hadn't changed.
"I think that video was done only because almost all his senior staff was about to resign, and impeachment is imminent," a White House adviser, who spoke with senior officials as the debacle was unfolding, told CNN's Jim Acosta. "That message and tone should have been relayed election night ... not after people died."
Later, Trump appeared to some aides like he regretted taping the spot, asking those around him whether it was being well received.
The arrests of Trump supporters who stormed the Capitol began to pile up Friday including Derrick Evans, a West Virginia state legislator who is being charged with entering a restricted area and entering the US Capitol, and Richard Barnett of Arkansas who was photographed sitting at a desk in House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's office during the Capitol siege. Barnett was charged with knowingly entering and remaining in restricted building grounds without authority, violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds as well as the theft of public property, federal officials said Friday.
Lonnie Leroy Coffman of Alabama, who allegedly parked the pickup truck with the weapons cache near the Capitol Hill Club near the Capitol, told police he also had mason jars filled with "melted Styrofoam and gasoline" -- a combination that could have the same effect as napalm if it exploded, court documents said, because "it causes the flammable liquid to stick to objects that it hits upon detonation."
While the possibility of removal of the President through the 25th Amendment looks increasingly remote, in part because Pence has no interest in participating in that process, more Republicans are turning their attention to helping Biden transition into the job.
McCarthy rejected calls for Trump's impeachment Friday, but referred to Biden as the President-elect for the first time: "I have reached out to President-elect Biden today and plan to speak to him about how we must work together to lower the temperature and unite the country to solve America's challenges," the California Republican said.

After Trump indicated in one of his final tweets that he won't attend Biden's inauguration, the President-elect expressed relief at the prospect of his absence Friday, stating it was the one of the few things they had ever agreed on. Pence, however, would be welcome to attend, Biden said.
Wednesday's events, Biden argued, proved that Trump is "not fit to serve." If the nation were six months from inauguration, Biden said, he would be all for "moving everything" to get Trump out of office, including invoking the 25th Amendment. But with less than two weeks to go, the President-elect said he was focused "on us taking control" and would leave decisions about impeachment up to the Congress.
The President's encouragement of a mob Wednesday, Biden said, reminded him of what happens in nations with tin horn dictators. But he said the country's realization of the danger Trump poses could make his job easier as he attempts to unite a divided country -- though that remains an open question.
"I've had a number of Republicans who are former colleagues call me. They are as embarrassed and mortified by the President's conduct as the Democrats are," Biden said Friday. "What this President has done is ripped the band-aid all the way off to let the country know who he is, and what he's about, and how thoroughly unfit for office he is."
CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story misstated where a man in a viral photo was seated in Pelosi's office. It was a staffer's desk.