When Fox News host Steve Hilton gave Donald Trump an opening to rehabilitate himself over the January 6 insurrection he was impeached for, he responded by boasting that the rally just before “was tremendous numbers” and “a lovefest, beautiful.” He went on to blame Nancy Pelosi for the violence.
Trump called in for another lengthy chat on Fox News last night – you know, the network he reportedly wanted to destroy for its insufficient support for the Big Lie that he won the election. Last night’s schmooze was with billionaire “populist” and Trumper Steve Hilton.
Just like colleague Katie Pavlich, who “only” had eight minutes with Trump, Hilton, in his 20-minute discussion, never asked Trump about the Manhattan D.A. getting Trump's tax returns and financial documents, as part of a criminal investigation into possible bank and tax fraud.
However, at about 16:06, Hilton asked about the January 6th insurrection at the Capitol, which killed five people and injured about 140 officers, all of which followed Trump’s rally urging his supporters to go there and stop Congress from certifying the election results.
Hilton conveniently avoided bringing up how Trump never contacted his own vice president, whom Trump knew had been evacuated to a secure location, or his shocking response that sided with the insurrectionists when Rep. Kevin McCarthy called to beg him to call them off.
HILTON: I want to ask about January the 6th. It’s been reported that when that was unfolding, you were watching and actually, you liked what you were seeing because you felt it was your people fighting for you. Do you get how bad it was? And is there anything looking back on it now that you would have done differently that day?
Trump’s only regret seemed to be that the press did not report on just how massive his crowd size was.
TRUMP: Well, that’s incorrect reporting. First of all, I wasn’t watching TV. I turned it on later on when I heard about it and did a lot of moves. We said to the Department of Defense, the top person, days before we had the rally.
Because that rally was massive. I mean you have – the press doesn’t like to talk about, but the real number was much, much bigger in terms of the people that were at the location. It went all the way back, practically to the Washington Monument. It was tremendous numbers of people. Not the Capitol, I’m talking about the rally itself. And it was a lovefest, it was a beautiful thing.
No, but we actually – I requested, I said, look this rally is going to be bigger than anyone thinks, because everybody I see said we’re gonna be at the rally, we’re gonna be at the rally. And it had a – it was, I think, the largest crowd that I’ve ever spoken before. And I’ve spoken to very big crowds. Hundreds of thousands of people and more than that. But hundreds of thousands of people. And I said that I think he should have 10,000 - I think I gave the number – I definitely gave the number of 10,000 National Guardsmen, I think you should have 10,000 of the National Guard ready. They took that number, from what I understand, they gave it to the people at the Capitol, which is controlled by Pelosi, and I heard they rejected it because they didn’t think it would look good. So, you know, that was a big mistake.
Hilton seemed to understand how shockingly insensitive and tone deaf this was. His next question suggested Trump should rehab himself by condemning the insurrectionists’ behavior. But this time, Trump made himself the big victim.
HILTON: I just want to know how you feel about it now. Do you get how bad it was? People want to hear you say that.
TRUMP: No, no, I hate to see it. I think it’s terrible. I hate to see it. I will tell you that it’s very interesting, however. When you see Washington burning and when you see Seattle burning and Portland burning and all these other places burning with Antifa and the radical left, nothing seems to happen – nobody seems to be bothered by that. And I hate to see that difference.
But I hated to see that [violence] at the Capitol. I hate to see any of that, but it is a double standard because every time you look at Antifa and these other cities burning, it’s terrible. You look at Minneapolis and what happened over there and if we didn’t allow the guard to go in, they’d still be having problems there. But so I do hate to see that double standard. I think it’s very unfair.
FACT CHECK: There is no comparison between the Black Lives Matter protests of last summer, where some protesters got out of hand, and the murderous, horrific destruction that occurred at the Capitol after Trump sicced his supporters there to try to overturn the presidential election.
But “populist” Hilton gave a pass to Trump’s callous lack of concern for the Capitol, those who were killed and injured, the safety of Vice President Mike Pence, Trump's shockingly selfish fixation on his crowd size and his attempt to play the victim. Instead, Hilton changed the subject to ask if it’s true Trump is happier now that he’s off Twitter.
You can watch Hilton throw democracy under the bus in favor of making nice with the guy who openly disdains it below, from the February 28, 2021 The Next Revolution with Steve Hilton.
You would think that with his resources and the Englishness that gives him a special aura with certain easily conned Americans, he could build a following all of his own rather than acting as cheerleader for a pig.