As his remaining days in office draw ever closer to ending, President Donald Trump is reportedly turning on everyone in his inner circle, including Vice President Mike Pence and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY).

Jonathan Swan of Axios notes that the president is convinced everyone has abandoned or betrayed him:

“President Trump, in his final days, is turning bitterly on virtually every person around him, griping about anyone who refuses to indulge conspiracy theories or hopeless bids to overturn the election, several top officials tell Axios.”

The latest: Targets of his outrage include Vice President Pence, chief of staff Mark Meadows, White House counsel Pat Cipollone, Secretary of State Pompeo and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.

Why it matters: Trump thinks everyone around him is weak, stupid or disloyal — and increasingly seeks comfort only in people who egg him on to overturn the election results. We cannot stress enough how unnerved Trump officials are by the conversations unfolding inside the White House.

Things have gotten so bad that if anyone refuses to indulge Trump’s unhinged conspiracy theories of how the 2020 election was stolen from him, he immediately considers them suspect and untrustworthy:

  • Trump is lashing out, and everyone is in the blast zone: At this point, if you’re not in the “use the Department of Homeland Security or the military to impound voting machines” camp, the president considers you weak and beneath contempt.
  • Trump is fed up with Cipollone, his counsel. Some supporters of Cipollone are worried that Trump is on the brink of removing him and replacing him with a fringe loyalist.

Axios co-founder Mike Allen expounded on Swan’s reporting during an appearance on MSNBC Tuesday morning:

“He had his personal assistant last night send around to Republican lawmakers a [Power Point] slide arguing that Senate Majority Mitch McConnell was, quote, ‘First off the ship,’ and Trump taking credit for McConnell’s win in Kentucky. Of course, the president had nothing to do with that. If anything, the president created headwinds because McConnell won and Trump didn’t.”

We have a deranged man in the Oval Office. Pence and others in the administration should invoke the 25th Amendment and remove Trump from office before he manages to destroy the United States in the final days of his term.

Featured Image Via NBC News