A day that Joe Biden egged on violence against police and Kamala Harris backed him up is hardly a day to raise a fist to the gods to demand that Donald Trump resign because he has somehow bent the norms of the presidency. Please, spare us.
In The Wall Street Journal editorial boardroom, where one guesses Kim Strassel must have sat in the corner zip-tied and ball-gagged, the swells of newspaper opined on Thursday afternoon that President Donald Trump should resign – now. Let’s not wait for January 20th at noon. Let’s push the guy out now!
And why? The president, who announced on Thursday twice that there will be an orderly transition of power – as he has always promised, and who denounced the riots more forcefully – did not do it quickly enough for the editorial board of The Journal.
In concise summary, on Wednesday the leader of the executive branch incited a crowd to march on the legislative branch. The express goal was to demand that Congress and Vice President Mike Pence reject electors from enough states to deny Mr. Biden an Electoral College victory. When some in the crowd turned violent and occupied the Capitol, the President caviled and declined for far too long to call them off. When he did speak, he hedged his plea with election complaint.
Some of this is true. President Trump did complain about election cheating from the Democrats in his message urging violent protesters to stop. It was unseemly, as I pointed out in my story for PJ Media here and in my podcast.
But we need to back the truck up if we’re talking about disrupting – blowing up – the political world in an even greater way than the Washington beltway insiders club wants to.
That still leaves Wednesday’s disgrace and what to do about the 13 days left in Donald Trump’s presidential term. Democratic leaders Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi are demanding that Mr. Trump be removed from office immediately—either by the Cabinet under the 25th Amendment or new articles of impeachment. There’s partisan animus at work here, but Mr. Trump’s actions on Wednesday do raise constitutional questions that aren’t casually dismissed.
In concise summary, on Wednesday the leader of the executive branch incited a crowd to march on the legislative branch. The express goal was to demand that Congress and Vice President Mike Pence reject electors from enough states to deny Mr. Biden an Electoral College victory. When some in the crowd turned violent and occupied the Capitol, the President caviled and declined for far too long to call them off. When he did speak, he hedged his plea with election complaint.
Let’s parse this a little.
Democratic leaders Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi are demanding that Mr. Trump be removed from office immediately—either by the Cabinet under the 25th Amendment or new articles of impeachment.
Are these the same political leaders from whom we expect so much, who denounced Donald Trump before he assumed office? Is this the same Nancy Pelosi, the leader of the House, who wondered aloud why there weren’t more riots against Donald Trump on the streets of America during the Democrats’ “summer of love”?
Was this the same Chuck Schumer who was angry that antifa and Black Lives Matter protesters were pepper-sprayed and tear-gassed in Washington, D.C., when the area around the White House was on fire?
Why yes, yes they were.
Didn’t these two incite rioters? Gee, must have missed that editorial.
There were no such words of comfort for Wednesday’s rioters who got the same treatment.
The Journal ruminated over whether ousting the president by the 25th Amendment, an absurd notion, or ousting him by impeachment would be a good idea, something perhaps the newspaper should have considered before using its influential editorial page to print its confused editorial spasms.
The related but separate question is whether impeachment or forced removal under the 25th Amendment now is in the country’s best interests. The latter seems unwise unless Mr. Trump threatens some other reckless or unconstitutional act. After Wednesday he has promised to assist an “orderly transition” of power. A Cabinet cabal ousting him would smack of a Beltway coup and give Mr. Trump more cause to play the political victim.
Impeachment has the virtue of being transparent and politically accountable. If there were enough votes to convict in the Senate, it would also seem less partisan. The best case for impeachment is not to punish Mr. Trump. It is to send a message to future Presidents that Congress will protect itself from populists of all ideological stripes willing to stir up a mob and threaten the Capitol or its Members.
But 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, much less heal partisan divisions. It would pour political fuel on Wednesday’s dying embers.
The Journal decided that the best thing for the country is for the president to quit.
If Mr. Trump wants to avoid a second impeachment, his best path would be to take personal responsibility and resign. This would be the cleanest solution since it would immediately turn presidential duties over to Mr. Pence. And it would give Mr. Trump agency, a la Richard Nixon, over his own fate.
It is best for everyone, himself included, if he goes away quietly.
There’s much wrong with this so I’ll try to make this quick and painless.
The president’s speech Wednesday was not nearly enough for a president to utter to quell violence, as I said Wednesday.
The Left likes to peddle the idea that President Trump empowered the rioters we saw Wednesday. There are a lot of people who subscribe to this belief. The president’s statement on Wednesday was weak sauce, late, and not terribly helpful. Sympathizing with people bashing in windows of the Capitol building was not a denunciation of the violence. “You’re hurt … you have to go home now … we have to have peace … you’re very special … we love you” sounded like a soft-pedaled message of the kind a cop makes to a gunman holding hostages.
He said this at a time when the rioters were still occupying the Capitol. There might have been a reason he softened his tone to get them out. His denunciations on Thursday – when the rioters were gone – were much more forceful.
It was a hell of a lot more impactful than your more normal President-elect Joe Biden had to offer on Thursday.
Using The Journal measurement, Biden, The Big Guy, heaped scorn on police. He claimed that, had these Black Lives Matter protesters, they would have been treated much more harshly than Wednesday’s pro-Trump rioters. In what universe?
Then he said that these folks weren’t protesters. They were a mob.
“They weren’t protesters. Don’t dare call them protesters. They were a riotous mob, insurrectionists, domestic terrorists.”
Fair enough. Where’s he been for the last year? Issuing “limp-wristed remonstrances.”
After a year of watching the riotous mobs of antifa and BLM killing, burning, maiming, vandalizing, and looting, Biden finally found protesters he didn’t like.
Once again, as Democrats are wont to do, Biden was targeting cops. For what exactly, Wall Street Journal editorial board? Violence. Scorn. Disgust. Now THAT’S the presidential way. That’s real leadership.
He was inciting violence using The Journal‘s reckoning.
His vice president openly lied about how if it were Black Lives Matter protests there would be a much tougher justice system meting out punishment. That is a bald-faced lie, as she knows. We figured the Journal‘s editorial page would know that, too, considering that district attorneys, mayors, and governors across the country have fallen all over themselves to free rioters from jail or prosecution. But instead, The Journal‘s editorial board accepts this wrongheaded and treacherous libel.
But sure, Donald Trump should “quit.”
Methinks The Journal has counted the days and realizes that it must do something to curry favor with the leftist mob soon to occupy the White House. They’ve got a newspaper to publish! Good luck with that.
Victoria Taft is the host of “The Adult in the Room Podcast With Victoria Taft” where you can hear her series on “Antifa Versus Mike Strickland.” Find it here. Follow her on Facebook, Twitter, Parler, MeWe, Minds @VictoriaTaft
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