Donald Trump told one of his aides after the 2020 presidential election loss, “I’m just not going to leave.” The New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman exposed his comment in an upcoming book. Representative Liz Cheney (R-WY) will appear in a CNN special where she said that attitude only “affirms the reality of the danger” that is Trump.
Cheney, who is vice-chair of the House January 6 Select Committee, appeared with CNN co-anchor Jake Tapper as part of its documentary American Coup: The January 6 Investigation. It will air Sunday. The representative remarked during her interview with Tapper:
“And when you hear something like that, I think you have to recognize that we were in no man’s land and territory we’d never been in before as a nation.’
Haberman wrote in her book Confidence Man: The Making of Donald Trump and the Breaking of America published by Penguin Random House, Trump insisted he would not leave the White House after President Joe Biden’s inauguration:
‘I’m just not going to leave. We’re never leaving. How can you leave when you won an election?’
Cheney was by then used to Trump’s dictatorial bent. But she said his words made people believe the situation “wasn’t as dangerous as it really was:”
‘And if you have a president who’s refusing to leave the White House, or who’s saying he refuses to leave the White House, then anyone who sort of stands aside and says someone else will handle it is themselves putting the nation at risk, because it’s clear that, when you’re at a moment that we faced, everyone’s got to stand up and take responsibility.’
Words mattered, according to Cheney:
‘It’s not surprising that those are the sentiments that he reportedly expressed. I think, again, it just affirms — affirms the reality of the danger.’
The Select Committee vice-chair lost her election over disagreements with Trump, especially on the televised Select Committee hearings:
‘And if you have a president who’s refusing to leave the White House, or who’s saying he refuses to leave the White House, then anyone who sort of stands aside and says someone else will handle it is themselves putting the nation at risk, because it’s clear that, when you’re at a moment that we faced, everyone’s got to stand up and take responsibility.’
‘It’s not surprising that those are the sentiments that he reportedly expressed. I think, again, it just affirms — affirms the reality of the danger.’
Haberman’s publisher wrote Trump was all about “what is in it for him:”
‘The through-line of Trump’s life and his presidency is the enduring question of what is in it for him or what he needs to say to survive short increments of time in the pursuit of his own interests.’
Trump’s many attempts to overthrow the American government only proved how determined the man was to remain in the White House.
Featured image is a screenshot via YouTube.
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