DON MUST GO - TODAY
NEWS SAYS: Nation can’t risk two more weeks of Trump madness after Capitol offense
Enough is enough.
Scores of lawmakers and even several administration officials excoriated President Trump on Thursday for his incitement of a bloody far-right attack on the U.S. Capitol — with many in the bipartisan ranks demanding that he be immediately removed from office for egging on the sinister assault on American democracy.
On Capitol Hill, where the pro-Trump riot raged a day earlier, members on both sides of the aisle said it was time for Vice President Mike Pence to invoke the never-used Section 4 of the 25th Amendment to kick Trump out of the White House before his term is up on Jan. 20 on the grounds that he poses a danger to the nation.
“This man is deadly to our democracy and to our people,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) told reporters as she called on Pence to activate the arcane removal process.
“We have 13 days more of Donald Trump to deal with ... but I don’t trust whatever the president might have in mind because I think he’s a very dangerous man.”
It wasn’t just hardened Trump critics like Pelosi who said it’s time for the 25th.
“All indications are that the president has become unmoored, not just from his duty, or even his oath, but from reality itself,” said Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.), becoming the first Republican in Congress to voice support for removing the president. “It is for this reason that I call on the vice president, and members of the cabinet to ensure the next few weeks are safe for the American people, and that we have a sane captain of the ship.”
Even dyed-in-the-wool Trump loyalists suggested their leader had crossed a line by telling far-right supporters at a massive rally outside the White House on Wednesday to “fight like hell” to overturn Joe Biden’s “bulls—t” election, prompting the mob to violently storm the Capitol, where lawmakers were counting the electoral votes, resulting in at least four deaths, many injuries and dozens of arrests.
“Orchestrating a mob to pressure Congress is inexcusable,” William Barr, Trump’s recently resigned attorney general, said in a statement. “The president’s conduct yesterday was a betrayal of his office.”
Pence, who presided over the tumultuous congressional count that certified Joe Biden’s election victory one final time in the wee hours Thursday, did not give any indication that he was willing to play ball on the 25th Amendment.
However, soon-to-be Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said Democrats have a contingency plan if Pence punts.
“If the vice president and the cabinet won’t invoke the 25th Amendment, Congress should come back in session immediately and impeach the president — get him out of office,” Schumer told reporters outside his office in Midtown Manhattan. “This president could try again to do the same. Our democracy is at risk.”
Trump was impeached by the House in late 2019 for blackmailing Ukraine’s government to produce political dirt on Biden, but the Senate acquitted him.
Schumer, who’s in line to take over as Senate majority leader in light of Democrats reclaiming control of the chamber, said he hopes the outcome would be different this time around. “We have to fight this with all we can,” he said.
Trump, who falsely maintained for months that Biden’s election was facilitated by fraud, can be removed under the 25th Amendment if Pence invokes it and a majority of the president’s cabinet offers support.
Some prominent Trump critics argued against the move. “I think time is a little short for that,” said Utah Sen. Mitt Romney, the only Republican who voted for Trump’s removal at his first impeachment trial. “I think we’ve got to hold our breath for the next 20 days.”
One of the Trump cabinet members who could’ve had a direct say on the 25th Amendment issue called it quits instead.
“Yesterday, our country
experienced a traumatic and entirely avoidable event as supporters of the president stormed the Capitol building following a rally he addressed,” Elaine Chao, Trump’s long-serving transportation secretary, said in a resignation letter. “It has deeply troubled me in a way that I simply can’t set aside.”
Chao’s husband is Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (RKy.), who was forced to evacuate into a fortified part of the Capitol when the Trump-boosting rioters, many of whom were armed, broke into the building, forcing a terrifying standoff with Capitol Police officers. McConnell, usually a Trump ally, voted to uphold Biden’s election victory when the session reconvened.
Former White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney, who has served as Trump’s special envoy to Northern Ireland since last February, also jumped ship Thursday.
“I called Mike Pompeo last night to let him know I was resigning,” Mulvaney said in an appearance on CNBC, referring to Trump’s secretary of state. “I can’t do it. I can’t stay.”
Biden, speaking at his transition team headquarters in Delaware, took issue with some right-wingers characterizing the rioters as protesters.
“Don’t dare call them protesters,” said Biden, now finally cleared for inauguration after the congressional certification of his victory. “They were a riotous mob, insurrectionists, domestic terrorists.”
Trump’s war on the 2020 election is backfiring on some of his die-hard allies.
A group of progressive Democrats called Thursday for the resignations of Sens. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), who led failed challenges aimed at invalidating election results in several states during the certification session.
Trump remained holed up at the White House on Thursday without access to Twitter or Facebook for most of the day as both platforms froze his accounts for posting messages about the riots in violation of policies against glorification of violence.
Late Thursday, he got Twitter access back and tried to backpedal on his dangerous incitement.
“I am outraged by the violence, lawlessness and mayhem,” Trump said in a video recorded at the White House, contrasting a since-removed video posted Wednesday, in which he professed his “love” for the rioters and called them “very special people.”
Finally admitting it’s over, Trump also committed Thursday to “a smooth, orderly and seamless” handover to Biden after spending over two months obstructing his transition team and baselessly accusing him of cheating in the election.