Donald Trump.Photo: Erin Schaff - Pool/Getty
The editorial boards of a slew of major national newspapers have urged President Donald Trump to resign or be impeached, citing his incitement of — and response to — the Capitol riots that lead to the deaths of five people on Wednesday.
“In concise summary, on Wednesday the leader of the executive branch incited a crowd to march on the legislative branch … When some in the crowd turned violent and occupied the Capitol, the President caviled and declined for far too long to call them off,” theJournalstory read. “When he did speak, he hedged his plea with election complaint.”
Noting that there’s been talk of utilizing either the 25th Amendment or articles of impeachment to remove the president, theJournalinstead urged the president to resign.
“Impeachment so late in the term won’t be easy or without rancor. It would further enrage Mr. Trump’s supporters in a way that won’t help Mr. Biden govern … If Mr. Trump wants to avoid a second impeachment, his best path would be to take personal responsibility and resign.”
Not only would a resignation be the “cleanest solution,” as theJournalwrote, but it would also allow Trump to control his “his own fate.”
In its own op-ed, titled “Trump Is to Blame for Capitol Attack,” the editorial board ofThe New York Timeswrote that both the president and his allies “Republican enablers in Congress” incited Wednesday’s attack.
“This cannot be allowed to stand,” wrote theTimes.
Rather than calling for the president to resign, though, theTimessuggests Trump be held accountable via “impeachment proceedings or criminal prosecution — and the same goes for his supporters who carried out the violence.”
The Washington Post’seditorialechoed those sentiments, putting responsibility for Wednesday’s attempted insurrection squarely at Trump’s feet.
“Responsibility for this act of sedition lies squarely with the president, who has shown that his continued tenure in office poses a grave threat to U.S. democracy,” thePostwrote. “He should be removed.”
As the Post noted, Trump encouraged the rioters to gather prior to the coup attempt, promoting the Jan. 6 protest with amessageposted on Twitter Dec. 16: “Big protest in D.C. on January 6th. Be there, will be wild!”
When the day came, he appeared before the crowd, telling them, “We’re going to walk down [to the Capitol', and I’ll be there with you. You’ll never take back our country with weakness. You have to show strength, and you have to be strong.”
Instead of joining them on their march, the president retreated back to the White House, watching from afar as his supporters overwhelmed Capitol Police (one of whom died as a result), and trashed lawmakers' offices in their quest to forcefully overturn the results of a Democratic election.
AUSA Todayeditorial called for Trump to be removed via the 25 Amendment, saying he had “forfeited his moral authority to hold the nation’s highest office, even for 13 more days.”
“Nevertheless, the question is one of relative risks, and leaving an unpunished Trump in office is the greater threat,” the editorial reads. “Trump appears mentally incapacitated — living in a fantasy world of voting fraud, unable to accept being labeled a loser, checking out of his job even asthousands of Americans are dying every dayfrom the raging coronavirus.”
Many lawmakers, on both sides of the aisle, have come out against Trump’s response to the attempted coup, and some officials in the Trump administration haveresigned as a result.
Democrats are reportedly planning to issuearticles of impeachmentagainst the president next week.
source: people.com
