BORIS Johnson’s bid to out-Trump Donald Trump was always doomed to fail given the high standards in low behaviour set by the former President.

Take the last days of their respective administrations. Oh to have been a fly on the £840 a roll wallpaper as Mr Johnson, after a long day of denial, finally conceded the jig was up (although what’s the betting his fingers were crossed behind his back?).

Even better to have been hiding behind a set of curtains in the White House as Christmas 2020 approached.

It was around that time, the congressional committee investigating the January 6 attack on the Capitol heard this week, that the defeated President called a meeting of his advisers.

For six hours, Mr Trump and his aides discussed what they were going to do about Joe Biden “stealing” the election (spoiler: he didn’t). Discussed is probably too flattering a word for the goings on, which were described to one committee member as “unhinged” and “not normal”, which is quite a bar by Trump standards.

The upshot was that the President ended the meeting and took to Twitter in the early hours to say: “Statistically impossible to have lost the 2020 election. Big protest in DC on January 6th. Be there, will be wild.”

Was this it, the smoking tweet that would directly link the then President to the violent attack on the US legislature that shocked America and the world? Certainly one of those there that day, Stephen Ayres, thought he heard the call. He told the inquiry: “The President got everybody riled up, told everybody to head on down, so we were basically just following what he said.”

The viewer at home might chalk this session down as a win for the January 6 committee. It was not as much of a dear diary event, however, as the day in June when Cassidy Hutchinson gave evidence.

Ms Hutchinson began her career as an intern for Republican senator Ted Cruz, and worked her way up to be a “gatekeeper” to Mark Meadows, Mr Trump’s White House chief of staff.

Still only 25, Ms Hutchinson was no deer in the headlights; she was the headlights. As part of her testimony, she alleged that the President knew some of the mob on January 6 was armed. At one point, she claimed Mr Trump became so intent on joining them at the Capitol he made a lunge for the steering wheel, shouting, “I’m the ******* President, take me up to the Capitol now.”

Mr Trump has denied the claims and dismissed Ms Hutchinson as fake. Damage had been done, though, and interest in the committee’s work increased.

Instead of some dusty hearing which promised much but delivered little, this could have been a documentary on Netflix, or one of those “inspired by a true story” dramas. Suddenly, viewers could “see” in their mind’s eye a President losing the plot, cussing and red-faced when he did not get his way.

If you loathed Mr Trump it sounded like the sort of thing he might do; and if you were a fan, likewise. Therein lies the problem with this inquiry, or one of them at any rate.

Some might argue that the January 6 inquiry was compromised from the off by a membership that consisted of two Republicans, both fierce critics of Mr Trump, and seven Democrats. As for Ms Hutchinson’s shocking testimony, some of it was based on things she claimed to have heard, but other allegations stemmed from what she had been told by others. Had this indeed been a courtroom drama the defence would be on its feet, shouting, “Objection, hearsay” till it was hoarse.

No matter how impressive the inquiry’s final report might be, if its main achievement is to confirm opinions on Mr Trump, then what will have been the ultimate point? There are other investigations into January 6 and prosecutions have taken place. Is this just an addition to the pile?

There is another view of the inquiry’s work, one held by Elon Musk. Busy chap, Mr Musk. With Twitter suing him for walking away from a takeover deal, you might think his hands were already full. Thankfully, the world’s richest man has found the time to have a spat with the word’s biggest blowhard.

The story so far: while mocking the Twitter bid, Donald claims Elon told him he voted for him.

Nope, replied Elon. “I don’t hate the man,” he tweeted, “but it’s time for Trump to hang up his hat and sail off into the sunset.”

Predictable enough, but then he turned to the January 6 inquiry, which cannot itself bring charges but it can recommend others do. “[Democrats] should also call off the attack,” he tweeted, “don’t make it so that Trump’s only way to survive is to regain the presidency.”

As is his way, Mr Trump shows no sign whatsoever that he is bothered by the inquiry. A “kangaroo court”, he says, there to draw attention away from the many failings of Joe Biden and his party.

If it is the latter, it is not working very well. A recent poll gives Mr Biden an approval rating of 33%, the lowest for any president since 1946. At this rate the Democrats are in for a hammering in the midterms.

That could change if President Biden, now on a visit to the Middle East, can persuade the Saudis to forget that he called them a pariah state and open the tap on oil to make it cheaper for the voters back home.

It’s a big ask, one that comes with similar sized risks for a President who has faltered on foreign policy, Ukraine aside.

While he is away the clock ticks down to next week and the trial of Steve Bannon, Mr Trump’s former adviser, who was charged with criminal contempt for failing to appear before the January 6 inquiry.

It should be quite the show, but again, will it harm or help Mr Trump in the eyes of voters?

Ordinarily, your money would be on Mr Trump to survive, thrive even, under the pressure. He has a problem, though, and it goes by the name of Ron DeSantis, the Republican governor of Florida.

Though he wants to remain in the great state of Florida for as long as they’ll have him, etc, Mr DeSantis, age 43 to Mr Trump’s 76, is increasingly being spoken of as a replacement for the older man.

As Mr Trump's old mate Boris discovered, it’s the ones behind, not in front, you need to watch closest.