The Washington Post is describing Donald Trump as “increasingly isolated, sullen and vengeful” with less than a week remaining in his presidency.
As the House moved to impeach him a second time — for inciting an insurrection — Trump issued a statement urging his supporters to stand down and avoid acts of violence, lawbreaking and vandalism. Too little, too late,
After being impeached, he did hold a private Oval Office ceremony to award the National Medal of Arts to country singer Toby Keith, a senior administration official told the Post.
Meanwhile, the Post described how Trump is lashing out at those remaining in the emptying White House, angry at his aides for not mounting a stronger defense of him ahead of the impeachment vote.
He’s furious at Vice President Mike Pence for allowing the Electoral College vote count to proceed in Congress and at soon-to-be Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell for leaving open the possibility that he might vote to convict Trump in a Senate impeachment trial.
His relationship with his personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, is also fracturing, the Post reported, citing people with knowledge of the dynamic between the men.
Earlier, Trump had reportedly tapped Giuliani to be part of his legal team for his Senate impeachment trial. Now it appears that Trump is ready to stiff Giuliani like many of the contractors at his Atlantic City casinos.
Two officials told the Post that Trump has instructed aides not to pay Giuliani’s legal fees and has demanded that he personally approve any payments to cover expenses Giuliani incurred while traveling around the country in a futile effort to overturn the election results.
A senior administration official said Trump is “pretty wound up” because virtually nobody is out there defending him — including press secretary Kayleigh McEnany, son-in-law Jared Kushner, national security adviser Robert C. O’Brien and Chief of Staff Mark Meadows.
As the House debated the article of impeachment, Trump’s press secretary, advisers and lawyers were not out there defending him. The Post said his sole defender was senior political adviser Jason Miller who argued that those who voted for impeachment would pay a political price because “the grass roots and the base support is strong for him.”
And impeachment comes on top of Trump having his social media accounts suspended, the cancellation of the PGA Championship at one of his golf courses, and Deutsche Bank severing its financial ties.
A former senior administration official told the Post:
“He is feeling increasingly alone and isolated and frustrated. One of the metrics by which he’s often judged any number of things is: ‘Who’s out there saying good things about me or fighting on my behalf?’ And he never seemed to think there were enough people doing it strongly enough.”
Now, in the final days, this official said, “it’s like death by a thousand cuts.”