Wall Street Journal, New York Times and More Call for Trump's Removal or Resignation

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.

The conservative-leaning Wall Street Journal (owned by Fox chairman Rupert Murdoch) excoriated the president in their op-ed, "Donald Trump's Final Days," published on Thursday.

"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," the Journal story 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, the Journal instead 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 the Journal wrote, 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 of The New York Times wrote that both the president and his allies "Republican enablers in Congress" incited Wednesday's attack.

"This cannot be allowed to stand," wrote the Times.

Rather than calling for the president to resign, though, the Times suggests 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's editorial echoed 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," the Post wrote. "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 a message posted 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.

A USA Today editorial 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."

Though the newspaper noted that removing the president via impeachment or by invoking the 25th amendment were long shots, it added that his removal was necessary for national security.

"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 as thousands of Americans are dying every day from 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 have resigned as a result.

And while the 25th Amendment has been suggested as a means for removing Trump by some lawmakers, it appears unlikely that it will be invoked by Vice President Mike Pence.

Democrats are reportedly planning to issue articles of impeachment against the president next week.

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