President Donald Trump's biographer, Michael d'Antonio disputed Ivanka Trump's claim that her father is "energized" by the House passing the two articles of impeachment this past week.
During an interview with CBS's "Face the Nation," the president's daughter
"He's energized, as are 63 million-plus voters who elected him to office," Ivanka told CBS's Margaret Brennan. "This is historic, as you note. And in many ways, including the fact that it is the first purely partisan impeachment."
She went on to say that her father will turn the impeachment into a positive and end up winning even more voters in 2020.
"Well, I think she is right to say that is what he'll try to do," d'Antonio said. "She knows him probably better than anyone on Earth, and she also has been playing the role of his ray of sunshine since she was a very little girl. So, she knows he needs this. He needs to be encouraged. I wouldn't say that he's energized. I would likely say he was enraged by what is going on and desirous of exerting some control over the situation and probably quite frustrated that there is this two-week break, and he can't be out there functioning as usual. You won't even have a target in Congress because they've left town. So, she is right that he'll try but who knows if he can accomplish what she hopes he can?"
In an editorial for The Washington Post, one writer explained that the president might have inherited millions, run companies and been elected to the White House, but when Wednesday came, he stewed and trashed as he "watched the nation that gave him everything tried to take something back."
D'Antonio explained that the president brought this all on himself, though he'll never be willing to admit it.
"This is a person who's dedicated himself to denying reality whenever it's uncomfortable," he said. "I think what you noted about [President Richard Nixon] and [President Bill] Clinton regretting what they put the country through, that requires a level of affection for the country, a level of care, a level of respect for the job that I think the president lacks. He is not a person who is concerned about the turmoil that others are experiencing. He cares about the turmoil he is experiencing. It's that blindness, that hubris that really brought this all on. I think it is going to make the coming year something different than what he expects. I think there are many more mistakes he'll make and trouble he'll cause for himself."
Watch the panel discussion below:
