There was a long list of things to get upset about during the Capitol riot. But, for the man who incited the insurrection, it seems there was one thing above all else that disturbed him—how low class his supporters looked.
On Monday, New York magazine published an excerpt from Michael Wolff’s coming book about Donald Trump, Landslide: The Final Days of the Trump Presidency, which details the ex-president’s exchanges as he watched his crazed fans storm the U.S. Capitol building on Jan. 6. During one call that day, Trump is quoted as having said: “This looks terrible. This is really bad. Who are these people? These aren’t our people, these idiots with these outfits. They look like Democrats.” Trump is reported to have disparagingly referred to his supporters as “the great unwashed,” and is said to have joked that he should invest in a line of tattoo parlors for MAGAists. Wolff also reports an exchange between Trump and his staff after he’d promised the crowd that he’d march to the Capitol with them. “I didn’t mean it literally,” Trump reportedly said.
It should be noted that the accuracy of Wolff’s reporting—particularly in his last book Siege: Trump Under Fire—has faced scrutiny, with some pointing out potential factual inaccuracies in his writing. He’s also been criticized for his heavy reliance on anonymous sources.
Read it at New York Magazine
