In the end, after a day of violence, weeks of baseless allegations that the election was stolen, and months refusing to commit to a peaceful transfer of power, it was the tweets that pushed President Trump's loyalists into a flurry of resignations.
Former staffers accused Trump of stoking violence in tweets that called on supporters to disperse but still included inflammatory claims about voter fraud.
The final trigger was apparently an evening message in which he said the violence, during which a protester was shot dead, was the result of an election victory being stripped from “patriots.”
“It is one thing from him to say he was cheated out of the presidency, since he apparently truly believes that, but completely irresponsible to tell people to march on the Capitol, and then, his tweet gloating about the madness was just beyond the pale indefensible,” a former White House official said.
“Literally the worst tweet he’s done ever,” the official added.
