Donald Trump, Jr. may have been attempting to assert himself when he criticized his father via Mark Meadows on Jan. 6, a Trump biographer explained on CNN on Tuesday.
“He’s got to condemn this sh*t ASAP. The Capitol Police tweet is not enough," the president's namesake son texted the White House chief of staff.
“I’m pushing it hard. I agree,” Meadows replied.
“We need an Oval Office address. He has to lead now. It has gone too far and gotten out of hand,” Trump, Jr. said.
READ MORE: Mary Trump explains why she thinks Donald Trump Jr. is the dumbest of the Trump children
Trump biographer Michael D'Antonio, author of the 2015 biography Never Enough: Donald Trump and the Pursuit of Success, offered his analysis on CNN.
"Michael, what goes through your mind hearing these words from Trump, Jr., not to his own father, but to his dad's chief of staff?" CNN's Ana Cabrera asked.
"Well, first of all, it is surprising that he didn't address the president directly to his cell phone. There could be a sign of something wrong there, but Donald, Jr. has always been — although it doesn't look that way — the deviant member of the Trump clan," he replied. "And by that I mean he's been willing to stand up to his father in ways that other people have not, so when you see especially that phrase he has to lead now, that indicates that he's saying his father has not been leading and that he's aware of it, and then when he says that this has gotten out of hand, he indicates that he knows where the limits are in civil society but his father does not. "
"In all fairness, we don't know that Trump, Jr. wasn't also reaching out to his father at the same time," Cabrera said. "Do you think he was texting his father as well perhaps and it was just ineffective?"
"I would hope so, but, you know, it could well be that Donald, Jr. has never had the direct line to the president in the White House, that he would have had when they were in business together," D'Antonio said.
Watch:
Donald Trump Jr. is the ‘deviant member of the Trump clan’www.youtube.com
