Donald Trump's long and lonely night after being banned from Twitter and isolated by allies

Donald Trump was a man alone in the White House on Thursday as aides deserted the president and left him to an ignominious fate.

Some of those closest to Mr Trump were said to be avoiding speaking to him on legal advice in case anything they said might later come up in a congressional investigation. Others were simply flabbergasted and felt the man they served had crossed the Rubicon – and they could not go with him.

Cut off from Twitter and Facebook, and increasingly isolated, Mr Trump was left to stew, watching on cable television as his legacy – and his chances of returning to the White House in 2024 – withered away.

But the president had started Wednesday in a combative mood, exhilarated by the turnout for his rally in Washington. Later, he watched on a large screen in the West Wing as his supporters disgraced America by attacking Congress.

A person close to Mr Trump told The Telegraph it was almost impossible to get through to him for the rest of the day. "He didn't want to speak to anyone, and when he did none of what he was saying made much sense," the person said.

As the mob began breaking through police barriers, his aides started to panic. They pleaded with him to send in the National Guard, as he had done for the Black Lives Matter protests over the summer.

Mr Trump resisted the calls for some time, leading some to lose faith in him. In the meantime, staff worked on convincing him to put out a video address telling his supporters to go home – the only thing they believed could help put an end to the disaster.

A White House lawyer reportedly advised officials not to speak to Mr Trump, and particularly not to offer any words of support for what was unfolding, thereby reducing the chance they could be prosecuted later for treason under the Sedition Act.

The list of staff resignations grew by the hour, compounding Mr Trump's isolation. First came Stephanie Grisham, First Lady Melania Trump's chief of staff, followed by Matt Pottinger, the deputy national security adviser.

The deputy press secretary resigned, saying she was "disturbed" by the events, and the White House social secretary also left. Mick Mulvaney, special envoy to Northern Ireland and Mr Trump's former chief of staff, followed. He said: "I can't do it, I can't stay."

Mr Trump began ordering out "disloyal" White House staff including Marc Short, Mike Pence's chief of staff. Even ultra-loyal aides began distancing themselves on Twitter, safe in the knowledge that Mr Trump could no longer use his account to throw them to the social media mob.

There was an increasing fear, even among the president's most loyal acolytes, that he may want to cause as much disruption as possible before he leaves office. More than one suggested that he had changed since a year ago, and been consumed by his election defeat.

Members of his family tried to rein back in what had happened. "This is wrong and not who we are," tweeted Donald Trump Jr. "Be peaceful and use your 1st Amendment rights, but don't start acting like the other side. We have a country to save and this doesn't help anyone."

But, even if Donald Trump may not have realised it, the Rubicon had been crossed.