January 6 Hearings Prove That Donald Trump Is a 'Master Gaslighter,' Political Expert Says

The January 6 hearings have been recently focusing on former President Donald Trump's actions and inactions as the Capitol riot unfolded.

The House select committee investigating the January 6 Capitol attack has already hosted eight public hearings since June 10.

During the hearings, the January 6 panel had presented evidence suggesting Trump's "dereliction of duty" that day of the attack and heard a testimony that detailed the former president's behavior when his supporters breached Capitol Hill, Business Insider reported.

However, Matthew Schmidt, an associate professor of national security and political science at the University of New Haven, told Insider that the panel had succeeded so far in showing Trump's mindset or manipulation methods and less of his actions.

"My big takeaway is that Donald Trump is able to do what he does because he's a gaslighter... Trump is a master gaslighter," Schmidt told the outlet.

According to Insider, gaslighting, a term that has grown in colloquial usage in recent years, is a form of psychological manipulation that involves sowing doubts about one's perception of reality by distorting facts and truths.

Schmidt noted that Trump's acts of omission during and after the Capitol riot were his own form of "gaslighting." The political expert added that the inclusion of "stay peaceful" in Trump's tweet amid the Capitol attack calls into question the real message he was aiming to send.

"'Stay peaceful' is gaslighting... It could mean 'stop attacking' because attacking is the opposite of peace, or it could mean 'invade the Capitol, but stay peaceful as you do it'," Schmidt said.

Donald Trump has reportedly refused to call off the attack for hours. He also refused to take the advice of his family, friends, advisers, and staff to immediately issue a statement instructing his supporters to evacuate the Capitol and condemn the January 6 violence.

January 6 Hearings on Donald Trump

The January 6 committee resumed with its eighth public hearing on Thursday that mainly focused on what the former president was doing while the insurrection was happening.

The panel also looked at what was happening around him. The committee showed that Trump did not only fail to act but chose not to do anything as rioters breached the Capitol.

CNN News reported that several witnesses who were inside the White House and had first-hand knowledge of what was happening testified that Trump did not place a single phone call to law enforcement or national security officials.

The panel also revealed that interviews with senior law enforcement, military leaders, D.C. local government officials, and former Vice President Mike Pence's staff showed that they did not hear anything from the president as the attack unfolded. The committee said that this inaction is tantamount to dereliction of duty.

During the testimony of former White House press aide Sarah Matthews, she revealed that Trump resisted calling for peace.

Matthews said she went to her boss, then-press secretary Kayleigh McEnany, and urged her to tell Trump that he needed to condemn the violence.

The former press secretary then left to ask Trump to calm things down, only to hear from him that he had sent a tweet, but it did not call for peace. She then told Matthews in a "hushed tone" that Trump did not "want to include any sort of mention of peace in that tweet."

Reports said it was not until Ivanka Trump suggested that her father tweet out the phrase "stay peaceful" that he finally agreed. Matthews said that Trump's refusal to act and to condemn the violence that day was "indefensible."

Donald Trump Reacts on January 6 Hearing

Donald Trump has posted a statement on his social media site Truth Social after the January 6 hearing on Thursday. Trump accused the January 6 panel of spreading "lies," New York Post reported.

"So many lies and misrepresentations by the corrupt and highly partisan Unselect Committee... The Unselects are embarrassed by their 'performance' tonight!" the former president said.

In his angry barrage of posts, Trump also attacked the other individuals who have questioned him or are opposed to his politics, such as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, CNN anchor Jake Tapper, Rep. Liz Cheney, and former Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton.

Donald Trump alleged that Pelosi had turned down his offer to send 10,000 National Guard troops to Washington before the riot and that the "unselect committee" had not addressed this issue. However, there is no evidence that the former president or the White House made such an offer or request for troops.

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written by: Mary Webber

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