Today is Tuesday, June 28, 2022. As I explored the pages of Facebook today, I learned that June 28 marked the anniversary of the death of Twilight Zone creator Rod Serling in 1975, which was posted by his daughter Anna. Today also marks the surreal testimony offered by a former aide to Chief of Staff Mark Meadows Cassidy Hutchinson to members of the January 6 committee investigating the details of the insurrection on that infamous day in the nation’s history. The testimony was indeed shocking in its insinuation of how a former president was so unhinged that he almost throttled a driver of his entourage to take him back to the Capitol.

The blockbuster hearing is covered in a CNN online article by Marshall Cohen, Zachary Cohen, and Alex Rogers entitled “7 takeaways from Tuesday’s shocking January 6 hearing.” Could the testimony delivered by Ms. Hutchinson be perceived as that “John Dean” moment in the Dumpf debacle? Hutchinson revealed today how then-President Donald Dumpf and his inner circle were warned about the potential for violence on January 6, and how Dumpf wanted to join the throngs of his supporters at the U.S. Capitol.

“The testimony bolstered the narrative that the committee has been driving toward over the last few weeks: That Dumpf incited and supported the insurrection as part of a desperate power grab to steal a second term, and that many of his top advisers thought the schemes were illegal.”

Some of those takeaways from today’s stunning testimony from a very brave woman:

Dumpf and his chief of staff were warned about violence – including armed attendees of the rally

Hutchinson moved the ball forward in terms of establishing that Dumpf was personally aware of the potential for violence, yet forged ahead on January 6 with his attempts to rile up his supporters to interfere with the joint session of Congress to certify President Joe Biden’s victory.

The arsonist was told that morning that weapons were being confiscated from some of his supporters who came to his rally. Later, when Dumpf and his team were at the Ellipse – and before the speech – Dumpf barked out orders to his staffers to “take the mags away” – referring to the metal detectors – because the people in the mob were “not here to hurt me.” This indicates that he had prior knowledge that these animals were there to rain down violence on other members of Congress and that Dumpf was actually goading them on. Dumpf also said, according to Hutchinson, “I don’t fucking care that they have weapons.” Fuck, what? This is particularly shocking admission on the part of Dumpf because he then encouraged the same crowd to march to the Capitol while lawmakers were certifying Biden’s win. As you well know, hundreds of Trump’s diehard zombies soon stormed the Capitol, with many carrying knives, bear spray, metal poles, tasers, and a few guns.

Dumpf intended to go to the Capitol and pushed to do so until the last minute

This would have been interesting if this unhinged president did go into the Capitol with his armed mob of supporters. Maybe he would have broken a window like so many of his armed insurrectionists. And what would he have done after breaching the Capitol? Demand that the counting be stopped – under what grounds? Would he have taken a spear to Mike Pence?

Trump reached for the steering wheel in his presidential limo in his bid to get up to the Capitol to be with his marauding mob

Here Hutchinson recounted the bizarre story of an unhinged president who lunged for the wheel of his limousine in order to steer the car to the Capitol, while his Secret Service detail informed him that it was not safe to go there; they were going to drive him back to the White House instead. Hutchinson recounted how the president was heard screaming to Robert Engel, the Secret Service agent in charge on January 6, “I’m the fucking president. Take me up to the Capitol now.” Here Dumpf reached up toward the front of the vehicle to grab at the steering wheel and “lunged” at Engel.

Another anecdote Hutchinson recounted reveals the state of mind of this petulant president. The former aide tells a story about how Dumpf would throw plates at the wall and flip the tablecloth in the dining room. A five-year-old doesn’t behave like this! Sheesh!

White House counsel Pat Cipollone warned: “People are going to die and the blood’s gonna be on your fucking hands.”

In this instance, Hutchinson recalled a conversation she observed between Cipollone and Mark Meadows after they discussed with Dumpf the chants from the mob to inflict violence on Mike Pence, the Vice President. During the conversation, Cipollone told Meadows that they have to do something more to stem the mob. Meadows sheepishly replied, “You heard him, Pat. He thinks Mike deserves it. He doesn’t think they’re doing anything wrong.” Then the lawyer for the White House responded, “This is fucking crazy. We need to be doing something more.”

After rioters breached the Capitol, Cipollone rushed into Meadows’ office and told the Chief of Staff what had happened, and said they needed to go meet the president. Cipollone told the cowardly Meadows, “Mark, something needs to be done, or people are going to die and the blood’s gonna be on your fucking hands.” According to Hutchinson, Meadows was told by Cipollone that “This is getting out of control.”

Dumpf’s conduct on January 6 was “un-American” and “unpatriotic,” Hutchinson says

In emotional and riveting testimony, Hutchinson said the ex-president’s behavior on January 6 was “unpatriotic” and “un-American.” This is an understatement, wouldn’t you say, from what has been revealed during today’s testimony?

Hutchinson emotionally delivered her response to how she felt when the toddler-in-chief attacked Pence in a tweet at 2:24 p.m. ET on January 6, which was after his loyal minions invaded the Capitol, forcing Pence, lawmakers, and staffers to run for their very lives. Hutchinson sadly recounts, “As a staffer . . .I remember feeling frustrated, disappointed, and, really, it felt personal. It was really sad. As an American, I was disgusted. It was unpatriotic. It was un-American. We’re watching the Capitol building get defaced over a lie. And it was something that was really hard in that moment to digest. . . .I still struggle to work through the emotions of that.”

Committee teases evidence of witness tampering

Another stunning piece of evidence the committee alluded to is that Dumpf and his allies might be engaged in witness tampering, which is a federal crime. Liz Cheney, the vice chairman of the House select committee, said one witness – whom she would not identify – testified that: “What they said to me is, as long as I continue to be a team player, they know I’m on the team, I’m doing the right thing, I’m protecting who I need to protect, you know, I’ll continue to stay in good graces in Trump world.” Cheney mentioned another instance in which an unidentified witness was told by someone in Dumpf’s orbit that Dumpf was “thinking about you” and that “he knows you’re loyal” and hopes that “you’re going to do the right thing when you go in for your deposition.” If this isn’t witness tampering, I don’t know what is. This is outrageous and those in Dumpf’s inner circle should be prosecuted posthaste. Cheney said the committee takes this “seriously” and will be considering “next steps,” potentially hinting at a criminal referral, for possible witness tampering or obstruction. I’ve always maintained that Little Donnie favors himself to be the incarnation of Don Corleone and today’s admonishment from Cheney bears that out. Totally disgusting from an ex-president of the United States. We’ve all seen how vindictive this occupant of Mar-A-Largo can be toward his perceived enemies. This kind of behavior must be held accountable within the chambers of the Department of Justice before it’s too late.

There is too much to absorb from this dramatic and incriminating evidence. I don’t see how anyone after this could admire this subhuman. I’ve always maintained this guy is a psychopath and today’s explosive testimony from the former aide to Mark Meadows affirms that. He couldn’t care about those who would be attacked by his angry MAGA mob and if his own Vice President were killed by the MAGA rioters, even. Remember, there are numerous women who have still allege that he has either assaulted or raped them in the past. This doesn’t get any attention anymore since everything else that has happened since then has eclipsed that news. It’s old news now.

Anyway, let’s see where we go from here. I’m not sure when the next hearing will be; I presume there will be no hearing until July – unless something big comes to the attention of the committee like the testimony we just heard from Cassidy Hutchinson today.

Well, that’s that. Quite eye-opening revelations heard this afternoon. I hope this convinces those still on the shelf about the culpability of the former president with regard to his involvement in this ever-widening scheme to obstruct an election.

Stay safe and be well.