Trump says people trying to lynch Mike Pence was just "common sense"

Former President Donald Trump has hardly made it a secret how much he enjoyed watching a mob of his most fervent, most unhinged, and most unapologetically fascistic supporters breach the halls of Congress, baying for blood in an attempt to overthrow a national election his favor. If I had to guess, I’d say it was probably one of his highlights from an otherwise pretty miserable year. Still, to fully appreciate the depths of how great a time Trump was evidently having during the afternoon of Jan. 6, a newly released interview between the former president and ABC News’s Jonathan Karl peels back yet one more layer of Trump’s self-absorbed psyche to reveal even more self-absorption underneath.

Asked by Karl whether he’d been worried during the insurrection for the safety of then-Vice President Mike Pence — whom the rioters identified as a target by name and cheered about hanging — Trump said, “No, I thought he was well-protected, and I had heard that he was in good shape.”

“No,” he repeated. “Because I had heard he was in very good shape.”

No biggie! He was doin’ just fine! And then the interview veered hard into some deeply weird shit.

“They were saying 'hang Mike Pence’,” Karl pointed out to Trump, who in response offered the following goulash as some sort of explanation for his indifference:

Because it’s common sense, Jon. It’s common sense that you’re supposed to protect. How can you — if you know a vote is fraudulent, right? — how can you pass on a fraudulent vote to Congress? How can you do that? And I’m telling you: 50/50, it’s right down the middle for the top constitutional scholars when I speak to them. Anybody I spoke to — almost all of them at least pretty much agree, and some very much agree with me — because he’s passing on a vote that he knows is fraudulent. How can you pass a vote that you know is fraudulent? Now, when I spoke to him, I really talked about all of the fraudulent things that happened during the election. I didn’t talk about the main point, which is the legislatures did not approve — five states. The legislatures did not approve all of those changes that made the difference between a very easy win for me in the states, or a loss that was very close, because the losses were all very close.

Please keep in mind that this is in regards to hundreds of rioters explicitly calling for the execution of Trump’s own vice president, and read that again.

It’s common sense, Jon.

It’s common sense, Jon.

It’s common sense, Jon.

Yeah, JON, it’s like ... what did Pence EXPECT? You can’t just be vice president of the United States without expecting a hoard of conspiracy theorists to break into your place of business and try to hang you because your boss filled his diaper just a little past the brim. Jeez!!

Here’s the audio clip, in case you really need to hear Trump justify the desired assassination of his VP in his own horrible voice.

Not that any of this is exactly shocking or revelatory when you think about it. It’s not like Trump has ever given any sign of caring about the health and wellbeing of anyone not named “Trump” and even then, there seem to be some glaring exceptions. Still, given the fact that the former president appears to be firmly set on taking another run at the White House, possibly against the very man whose attempted murder he seems so chill with, it’s worth highlighting Karl’s interview — conducted this past spring for his forthcoming book Betrayal — if for no other reason than to prove just how comfortable Trump is with using violence (or even the mere threat thereof) for his own gain. After all, it’s just “common sense.”