Tuesday, January 12, 2021

Wyoming Congresswoman Liz Cheney: "I will vote to impeach the President"

From the statement, today, by Rep. Liz Cheney, the 3rd-highest ranking Republican in Congress:    

"Much more will become clear in coming days and weeks, but what we know now is enough. The President of the United States summoned this mob, assembled the mob, and lit the flame of this attack. Everything that followed was his doing. None of this would have happened without the President. The President could have immediately and forcefully intervened to stop the violence. He did not. There has never been a greater betrayal by a President of the United States of his office and his oath to the Constitution
 
"I will vote to impeach the President."
 
https://www.politico.com/f/?id=00000176-f8dc-d367-a17e-fefc40700000

"Six hours of paralysis: Inside Trump’s failure to act after a mob stormed the Capitol"

The story, below, is by Washington Post reporters Ashley Parker, Josh Dawsey, and Philip Rucker.  It appeared on the newspaper's website Monday night.  

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-mob-failure/2021/01/11/36a46e2e-542e-11eb-a817-e5e7f8a406d6_story.html 

The report includes this:  

(A)s senators and House members trapped inside the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday begged for immediate help during the siege, they struggled to get through to the president, who — safely ensconced in the West Wing — was too busy watching fiery TV images of the crisis unfolding around them to act or even bother to hear their pleas.

From the story:

“It took him awhile to appreciate the gravity of the situation,” [Senator Lindsey] Graham said in an interview. “The president saw these people as allies in his journey and sympathetic to the idea that the election was stolen.”

The reporters write:

The man who vowed to be a president of law and order failed to enforce the law or restore order. The man who has always seen himself as the protector of uniformed police sat idly by as Capitol Police officers were outnumbered, outmaneuvered, trampled on — and in one case, killed. And the man who had long craved the power of the presidency abdicated many of the responsibilities of the commander in chief, even having to be prodded into belatedly calling up reinforcements from the National Guard.

One of the writers of the story, Mr. Rucker, along with Post reporter Carol Leonnig, wrote the excellent book A Very Stable Genius: Donald J. Trump's Testing of America (Penguin Press, January, 2020).

https://www.amazon.com/Very-Stable-Genius-Testing-America/dp/1984877496/

Friday, January 8, 2021

From columnist George Will: "Trump, Hawley and Cruz will each wear the scarlet ‘S’ of a seditionist"

The column by Mr. Will is from The Washington Post.  It appeared on the Post's website Wednesday evening.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/trump-hawley-and-cruz-will-each-wear-the-scarlet-s-of-a-seditionist/2021/01/06/65b0ad1a-506c-11eb-bda4-615aaefd0555_story.html

Resignation

President Trump is a deeply disturbed and uniquely dangerous man.

Conservatives, moderates, and liberals alike have called for him to resign, following the assault on the Capitol.  Those suggesting resignation include the editorial board of the conservative Wall Street Journal.  President Trump should take this advice.