Trump Jr went on Fox News to defend his dad and it backfired spectacularly

Donald Trump Jr’s attempts to defend his father on Fox News did not go well. 

The former president’s son told Sean Hannity that his father is not responsible for inciting insurrection in the US Capitol: something that is currently being debated in the Senate as Trump's second impeachment trial continues. 

Although Trump repeatedly riled up his supporters by baselessly claiming that the election was stolen from him through mass voter fraud, much of the debate hinges on whether a single speech, delivered to supporters just hours before violence broke out, amounts to incitement. 

During this speech, Trump said: 

“Now it is up to Congress to confront this egregious assault on our democracy. After this, we’re going to walk down and I’ll be there with you. We’re going to walk down.”  

Although at one point he urged his supporters to “peacefully and patriotically make your voices heard”, he also – during the same speech – said: 

“We fight like hell and if you don’t fight like hell, you’re not going to have a country anymore.” 

Trump Jr agreed with Hannity that Trump’s speech is being “selectively [edited]” by the media and others who have condemned it.

He also issued a series of “nonsensical” statements on the topic himself, such as: 

“If it wasn’t for double standards, the Democrats would have no standards at all.” 

Trump Jr went on to claim that his father’s speech was “mild in comparison” to the Black Lives Matter protests and that it had “absolutely no deviation” from “literally any speech ever given in the history of politics”. 

He also echoed a favourite claim of his father’s, arguing that the “Democrats have the media in their pocket”, which has allowed a second impeachment trial to take place. Aside from the fact that the media cannot bring impeachment proceedings against a president, this is obviously not entirely true: Trump Jr was speaking to "the media" as he made these remarks. 

Trump Jr rounded his arguments up with a convoluted sports analogy, through which he appeared to claim that four years of a Trump presidency amounts to "losing everything".

“Republicans have to stop trying to play the game differently. We gotta play hardball if they’re playing hardball. We’ve been playing t-ball for generations while the Democrats have played hardball. We’ve turned the other cheek as they’ve slapped us in the face and laughed as they’ve won every major fight along the way as we claim some sort of moral high ground and losing everything.” 

It's also difficult to accept this argument, given that impeachment proceedings have failed to remove Trump from office before – and, of course, because it was Trump supporters who stormed the Capitol (which is not exactly "turning the other cheek").

But Trump Jr's failure to defend him on Fox News is hardly the greatest of Trump's worries.

The lawyers who are representing him in the Senate aren't doing much better, and have been ridiculed for their attempts even by Republicans.