In the end, after a day of violence, weeks of baseless allegations that the election was stolen, and months refusing to commit to a peaceful transfer of power, it was the tweets that pushed President Trump’s loyalists into a flurry of resignations.
Former staffers accused Trump of stoking violence in tweets that called on supporters to disperse but still included inflammatory claims about voter fraud.
The final trigger was apparently an evening message in which he said the violence, during which a protester was shot dead, was the result of an election victory being stripped from “patriots.”
“It is one thing from him to say he was cheated out of the presidency, since he apparently truly believes that, but completely irresponsible to tell people to march on the Capitol, and then, his tweet gloating about the madness was just beyond the pale indefensible,” a former White House official said.
“Literally the worst tweet he’s done ever,” the official added.
It followed another now-removed tweet in which Trump criticized Vice President Mike Pence for refusing to reject the Electoral College votes, sending a signal to allies that loyalty ran only one way.
The result was a slew of resignations among staffers, who had become adept at shrugging off Trump’s Twitter controversies or who had publicly defended the president during some of his most contentious moments.
They included Northern Ireland special envoy and former White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney, deputy national security adviser Matt Pottinger, first lady chief of staff Stephanie Grisham, and deputy press secretary Sarah Matthews.
For his part, Mulvaney blamed a small group of advisers, including former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani and lawyer Lin Wood, who were not pushing back against Trump’s tendency to float “hyperbolic ideas.”
“The president of the United States went onstage and said go march down the street and invade the Capitol, and they did. That’s what stunned me because that was not the group of people that was working with the president when I was there,” he told CNBC’s Squawk Box.
Insiders told the Washington Examiner that more staffers were considering their positions.
Senior figures, reportedly including Ivanka Trump and her husband Jared Kushner, spent much of Wednesday trying to persuade the president to defuse the violence by condemning the attack and the violence.
Instead, he issued a Twitter message that triggered a 12-hour suspension by the social media platform.
“These are the things and events that happen when a sacred landslide election victory is so unceremoniously & viciously stripped away from great patriots who have been badly & unfairly treated for so long,” he wrote.
A more conciliatory message was posted overnight by the president’s social media director, committing to an “orderly transition,” though he twice referred to fighting on.
Statement by President Donald J. Trump on the Electoral Certification:
“Even though I totally disagree with the outcome of the election, and the facts bear me out, nevertheless there will be an orderly transition on January 20th. I have always said we would continue our…
— Dan Scavino??? (@DanScavino) January 7, 2021
“While this represents the end of the greatest first term in presidential history, it’s only the beginning of our fight to Make America Great Again,” Trump said.
Former White House assistant press secretary Austin Cantrell said it was no surprise that officials were resigning.
“Past and present White House staffers are embarrassed by Trump’s inability to conceive that he lost the election,” he said. “We staffers signed up to advance conservative principles, but inciting and enabling insurrection at the U.S. Capitol? Who can defend that?”
Jeanne Zaino, the author of the newly published American Democracy in Crisis, added they would also have been shaken by Trump’s tweets criticizing Pence.
“When you see him turn on those people, like Pence who has been so incredibly loyal, I think it makes people stop and say, ‘Hey, I could be next,’” she said.
