Donald Trump announced Friday he won’t be going to Joe Biden’s inauguration ceremony on January 20th, while his remaining aides and allies have described him as a ‘total monster’ and ‘mad King George’ as his presidency marches to a close.
Trump has isolated himself, his staff and the Republican Party, holed up in the Oval Office with a bunker mentality as aides pleaded with him to send a message of healing to the country in the aftermath of the MAGA mob storming Capitol Hill.
He’s returned to Twitter after the social media network locked his account in the wake of his lacklustre response to the riots in the Capitol.
To all of those who have asked, I will not be going to the Inauguration on January 20th.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 8, 2021
He launched a tweet containing ALL CAPS to thank his supporters, calling them ‘great American Patriots.’
‘The 75,000,000 great American Patriots who voted for me, AMERICA FIRST, and MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN, will have a GIANT VOICE long into the future. They will not be disrespected or treated unfairly in any way, shape or form!!!,’ he wrote.
And he announced, in an unprecedented break with historical tradition, that he will snub his successor on Inauguration Day.
‘To all of those who have asked, I will not be going to the Inauguration on January 20th,’ he declared.
The last president not to attend his successor’s swearing-in was President Andrew Johnson in 1869.
Trump’s pronouncement came the day after he released a video acknowledging he lost the November election. It took many failed legal battles, an attack on Capitol Hill and Congress’ certification of the electoral college vote to get the president to that point.
He and the first family will reportedly leave the White House on January 19th to go to his Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida.
The Washington Post spoke to aides and allies who described Trump as ‘psychologically fragile’ and said daughter Ivanka is one of the few who can get through to him.
‘A lot of people don’t want to talk to him,’ a senior administration official said. ‘He’s in a terrible mood constantly, and he’s defensive, and everyone knows this was a horrible mistake.’
One administration official described Trump’s behaviour as that of ‘a total monster.’
One ally called him ‘mad.’
‘He is alone. He is mad King George,’ said one Republican in frequent touch with the White House. ‘Trump believes that he has these people so intimidated they wouldn’t dare mess with him. I think Trump doesn’t understand how precarious his situation is right now.’
(Daily Mail)
