Donald Trump has reportedly been calling Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell up to three times a day to complain about Republican disloyalty as the threat of impeachment grows, griping about the disloyalty of senators like Ben Sasse, Susan Collins, Mitt Romney and Rob Portman who have criticised his conduct in office.

The GOP has been conspicuous by its absence from American TV screens in recent days, with usually loyal Trump supporters on Capitol Hill making themselves scarce and declining media opportunities to defend the president, clearly unnerved by the White House’s refusal to co-operate with the House of Representatives’ inquiry into his dealings with Ukraine.

Mr Trump is meanwhile under fire for washing his hands of responsibility for the Turkish assault on Kurdish fighters in Syria, made possible by his decision to withdraw US troops from the territory earlier this week, with #TrumpGenocide and #TrumpBetrayedTheKurds trending on Twitter and protesters hanging a banner outside Trump Tower in New York City denouncing the betrayal.

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