Succession may have had a barnburner of a finale, featuring a dad whose relationship with his kids is, put it lightly, not so great. But truth is often stranger than fiction. Logan Roy may be cruel, but he has nothing on Donald Trump. Don Jr., the former president’s eldest and most unhinged son, has been compared by some to Kendall: a screw-up whose attempts to please his father tend to result in failure. So what to make of the revelation that, on Jan. 6, Jr. tried to get his dad to put a stop to it by…texting his Chief of Staff?
As per The Daily Beast, the Jan. 6 committee held a meeting Monday where Liz Cheney, one of the only Republicans in the group investigating that fateful day, read out some damning texts that were sent amidst Trump’s inner circle. That included numerous Fox News hosts, all of them begging, pleading for him to do more to stop the deadly Capitol siege.
Liz Cheney reads texts from Laura Ingraham, Sean Hannity, Brian Kilmeade, and Donald Trump Jr. urging former President Trump to act while he sat around and did nothing for hours during the insurrection pic.twitter.com/jkk7KhxF0s
— Acyn (@Acyn) December 14, 2021
And there was Jr., who texted Mark Meadows, who’s been in the news an awful lot lately. “He’s got to condemn this s*it ASAP,” Don Jr. texted. “The Capitol Police tweet is not enough.”
“I’m pushing it hard. I agree,” Meadows responded.
“We need an Oval Office address,” Jr. wrote. “He has to leave now. It has gone too far and gotten out of hand.”
According to Cheney, Jr. texted Meadows “over and over.”
Since the day’s events, which led to Trump being booted from much of social media and effectively ended his single term in disgrace, conservatives have gone out of their way to downplay the day’s events, even aired bonkers conspiracy theories. But it’s clear the violence that day left everyone, including Trump insiders, rattled, even if they pretended to forget it later.
“Can he make a statement. Ask people to leave the Capitol,” Sean Hannity texted Meadows.
Laura Ingraham also reached out to the ex-president’s ally in a panic: “Mark, the president needs to tell people in the Capitol to go home. This is hurting all of us. He is destroying his legacy.”
Ditto Fox & Friends’ Brian Kilmeade: “Please, get him on TV. Destroying everything you have accomplished.”
The Jan. 6 committee did more than read out embarrassing texts from prominent conservatives. They also voted unanimously to hold Meadows, who refused to be interrogated by their members, in contempt of Congress. Perhaps he’ll be the unfortunate prisoner sharing a cell with Steve Bannon.
(Via The Daily Beast)