Douglas Brinkley: Trump Became the ‘Poster Child of Sedition’

Historian Douglas Brinkley said on Tuesday’s broadcast of CNN’s “Anderson Cooper 360” that President Donald Trump became the “poster child of sedition.”

Discussing Cassidy Hutchinson, former senior adviser to White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, testimony, Brinkley said, “Watergate is on everybody’s lips, and in a way, Cassidy Hutchinson is the John Dean of the moment. This is just devastating testimony we heard today. Donald Trump has to be cringing in disbelief. She delivered all the goods. There is nothing like this since the Civil War. I mean, if Watergate was less than this, we never had a president or even an American history just be the poster child of sedition. That’s where we saw Trump today. There will be a lot of scenes of this, the plates smashing and the ketchup, and I’m the f-ing president. But the fact is, Anderson, the president of the United States, did not care that there were armed rioters on the Capitol, saying they might not hurt me, meaning they might hurt Pence or Pelosi or members of Congress, leaves one to the conclusion that they will indict Donald Trump, so this is a story with legs.”

He added, “The fact of the matter was this was a riot and insurrection, and the president was basically green-lighting bloodshed as long as it wasn’t his own, so there is no president that’s ever acted this reprehensible. This is a twice impeached president who tried to have a coup on the United States, and the January 6 investigation has gone on for a year. It’s been sizzling.”

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