Despite both publicly and privately raging at his hapless, cowardly sycophant Kevin McCarthy for failing to ensure he was defended in the brutal House January 6th Select Committee hearings over the last few weeks, disgraced former President Trump privately approved of House GOP cuck Kevin McCarthy’s decision to pull all of his picks from the committee last July after after Nancy Pelosi vetoed Jim Jordan and Jim Banks, the New York Times reports. This also tracks with at least one of the Donald’s public statements at the time in which he was evidently content to call the Dem Speaker of the House’s then-erstwhile Capitol riot investigation “Fake and highly partisan”.

Trump, who has been watching every minute of the hearings, has been taken by surprise repeatedly by what’s been revealed, particularly irked by the video, reportedly constantly complaining “Those losers keep editing video,” and telling minions events described by witnesses in the depositions “didn’t happen,” speaking to the effectiveness of the committee’s hearing format.

That an egomaniacal misanthrope like the Donald, for whom everything is all about theatrics and production, is apparently taking these hearings pretty hard is no small compliment to the work they’ve done. The Times piece examines what they’ve been doing right, especially in comparison to past hearings that were often too boring, too long, derailed by combative witnesses and pontificating members of Congress, or some combination thereof. By bringing in only compliant witnesses for the live televised testimony while using clips of the Trump minions, they’re able to mostly stick to the script – one tailored to resonate with viewers.

“For the first time since Trump became president, there is a clarity of message and a clear story that is being told,” the Times quotes veteran TV news and sports producer Mike Weisman. “In the past, it was muddy, they were talking over each other, there was playing to the camera and Democrats had a hard time getting their story out. This is different.”