Former president Donald Trump hasn’t historically been too keen on listening to non-legislative critiques from Senate Republicans. This time around, the grumbling has to do with his press conference scheduled for January 6, the anniversary of the insurrection he incited that briefly made him a pariah within the GOP. Politico on Tuesday published an omnibus of polite comments from lawmakers suggesting that Trump maybe not draw attention to the event that resulted in his second impeachment and the lowest-ever approval rating for a president exiting office. “I don’t think that’s a good idea,” said West Virginia’s Shelley Moore Capito. “It’s a free country,” said John Cornyn, invoking the spirit of his home state, Texas. Pennsylvania’s Pat Toomey was a little more pensive, saying that it was not a “terribly good idea,” but “what am I going to do about it?”
Apparently, the airing of grievances may have helped. On Tuesday night, Trump took to his non-Twitter to announce: “In light of the total bias and dishonesty of the January 6th Unselect Committee of Democrats, two failed Republicans, and the Fake News Media, I am canceling the January 6th Press Conference at Mar-a-Lago on Thursday.” Instead, he will discuss “many of those important topics” he intended to touch on during the address at a rally scheduled in Arizona on January 15.
While the senators’ concerns that Trump’s comments on the anniversary would be a distraction may have influenced the former president’s decision, the New York Times reported a reason for cancellation — TV ratings — that is more consistent with past behavior. Realizing that the presser would not attract full-on cable-news coverage, his advisers recommended he call the whole thing off.
