Today’s January 6 committee hearings from Washington DC captured a series of remarkable, damning moments that make it clear Donald Trump is not fit for any role in public office, let alone the highest in the land. A series of moments, but one above all that leaves us in no doubt as to how close America came to a disaster of democracy that day.
There was the scene reported by numerous of Trump’s advisors of him sitting in his dining room at the White House watching the violence at the Capitol unfold in real time and refusing to act. Not because he was uncertain if things were as bad as some were claiming. Not because he was preoccupied with other matters of state. Not because his staff were divided and offering conflicting advice.
He was focused on the mob protesting at the Capitol, he knew they were armed and violent, that members of Congress were in danger and, as White House Counsel Pat Cipollone recalled it, not one of the president’s advisors dissented from the view that Trump’s duty was to call off the mob. Yet Trump watched and waited three hours before telling them to go home.
Worse, he sent tweets that former staff described as “adding fuel to the fire”.
Then there was the scene from January 7, an outtake from the former president’s speech to the nation that day in which he was reading from the teleprompter that the election was over and Congress had certified the result. He baulked at the line, saying, “I don’t want to say the election is over, ok?”. He could not bring himself to do his duty and, despite his other - clearly insincere - words on the day, show that an orderly transition of power to an opponent was more important than his own ambition.
As Trump’s former Deputy National Security Matthew Pottinger reminded the committee, former vice-presidents Richard Nixon and Al Gore had both lost close elections where the result could legitimately have been – and indeed was – debated. They had reason to feel unjustly treated (in a way that Trump does not). Yet both did their duty for the unity of the United States and conceded. Trump couldn’t say the words. And still hasn’t.
But perhaps the most important moment of the day was the testimony of an anonymous White House employee and of retired Washington DC police officer Mark Robinson, who both corroborated the evidence of Cassidy Hutchinson, the former assistant to Trump’s Chief of Staff Mark Meadows.
When Hutchinson gave what was widely called her “bombshell” evidence last month a lot of what she said was draped in headlines about Trump lunging at one of his security detail and throwing plates at the wall. But at the heart of Hutchison’s testimony was something much more serious. And more simple. It was the claim that Trump had been adamant that he wanted to be driven to the Capitol to take part in the protest that was playing out there.
On the day of January 6, I thought some of the reporting on the attack on the Capitol was overblown; here was a crowd of people – not that large – who were on the rampage, but were clearly members of fringe groups, victims of disinformation with only a loose relationship with reality. I was struck by how much worse it could have been. I wondered whether the committee hearings were going to be spin over substance.
Then Hutchinson appeared with her claims that Trump had demanded to be driven to the Capitol to join an event – whether you choose to call it a protest, a riot or an insurrection – that had protestors storming the building where public representatives were in session doing “the people’s business”.
Think about that. Apply it to New Zealand if it helps.
A mob was bashing down the doors of the seat of government. Attacking police officers. People were being beaten. And the head of that government wanted to be driven there to lead the riot. And the only reason Trump didn’t go to the Capitol was because the people who worked for him refused to obey his orders.
Imagine what might have happened had Trump appeared at the Capitol in the midst of the violence that day. Imagine the unprecedented sight of the President of the United States entering the Capitol that day with “his people” behind him. It beggars belief. And it’s hard to argue that American democracy wouldn’t have been in peril at that moment.
Until today though we had just the evidence of a single staffer. Now we have corroboration of two more reliable witnesses. And corroboration matters. A single source is never enough, but today the anonymous official and Robinson reinforced the claim that Trump was indeed “adamant” that he wanted to join the mob. He was “irate” and “upset” at being denied his wish.
It’s one thing to know the mob was acting on Trump’s behalf and in Trump’s interests. It’s quite another to know that Trump not only did nothing to stop the mob, he a) actively went against advice to call them off and b) was only stopped joining them by the bravery of disobedient staff. That is damning.
Which leaves us with the other great moments of the day – the testimony of staff, advisors and family members telling the truth of what unfolded that day. Some of them spoke reluctantly, yet others are everyday heroes who worked in the service of their country and their beliefs, but on a day when things were getting out of control and the principles they had sworn to protect were in jeopardy. On that day they did what was right. They made the brave choice. They stood up. They are the ropes that bind together democracy and stop it being trumped by ambition, lust and vanity.
What’s become clear through this testimony is that Trump failed repeatedly that day to honour his oath of office and to respect some of the most basic tenets of democratic government. But the people around him did not fail. And it was they who saved the day.