Republicans Lying to Themselves and Hoping Trump Will Go Away: Biographer – Newsweek

Republicans are "telling themselves lies" and hoping Donald Trump will simply go away, according to a biographer.

Tim O'Brien, the author of TrumpNation: The Art of Being the Donald and senior executive editor of Bloomberg Opinion, made the remarks on Mary Trump's podcast.

People "routinely discount how damaging and destructive" Trump can be, O'Brien said.

"I think we we know how dangerous it would be to pretend that Donald is not a problem anymore. That if we just ignore him, he'll go away," added Mary Trump, the former president's niece and a frequent critic.

But as the House select committee investigating the January 6 attack on the Capitol continues to present damning evidence about Trump's efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election, she said it was also important "to talk about his enablers and the people who use him for their own ends, and the people he uses."

O'Brien said Trump had a "reptilian sensibility about other people's vulnerability" and said some in his orbit "overestimate who he is."

Another group view Trump as "their useful idiot, someone who they think they can manipulate or use to further their financial or political or social ends," he said.

O'Brien continued: "I am surprised by the willingness of people who can see right in front of themselves what he's doing.

"Of the entire GOP, major institution, outside of political institutions, law enforcement, business institutions, academic institutions, and they essentially tell themselves lies and delude themselves, I think, in the belief that he might go away or he won't be bad or that he can be channeled to get their own goal enabled and realized.

"And time and time again, he takes advantage of them. All of them. Each and every single one of them."

O'Brien went on to warn that "Trumpism" would not be going away even if Trump does not win a second term in the White House in 2024.

"Trumpism isn't going away... [it] inhabits a bigger part of the Republican Party than when Donald first descended," he said. "And I think that we're going to be living with that for a long time whether or not he becomes president."

During the podcast, Mary Trump also said that while Trump is clearly paying attention to the January 6 hearings, they would not have any impact on his behavior.

"Donald's paying attention to January 6, but it's not going to modify his behavior in any way," she said.

Newsweek has contacted Trump's spokeswoman and the Republican National Committee for comment.

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Republicans Lying to Themselves and Hoping Trump Will Go Away: Biographer - Newsweek