Opinion
Trump Is Guilty
There’s no doubt who must be held responsible for
attacking the Capitol and trying to overturn the results of the election.
By The Editorial Board
The editorial board is a group of opinion journalists
whose views are informed by expertise, research, debate and certain
longstanding values. It is separate from the newsroom.
Feb. 12,
2021
This is the
heart of the prosecution’s argument in the ongoing impeachment trial of Donald
Trump. It is a plea for the senators charged with rendering a verdict not to
limit their concerns solely to the events of Jan. 6, when a mob of Trump
supporters sacked the U.S. Capitol, but also to act with an eye toward
safeguarding the nation’s future.
To excuse
Mr. Trump’s attack on American democracy would invite more such attempts, by
him and by other aspiring autocrats. The stakes could not be higher. A vote for
impunity is an act of complicity.
It is
unfortunate that the country finds itself at this place at this moment,
American pitted against American. But there is no more urgent task than
recentering the nation’s political life as peaceful and committed to the rule
of law.
Mr. Trump
stands charged with incitement of insurrection. For three days this week, House
managers laid out a devastating case for conviction. Methodically, meticulously
they detailed the former president’s effort to undermine and overturn a free
and fair election, culminating with his fomenting an attack on Congress that
resulted in the deaths of five people, and very nearly more. Mr. Trump spun
lies and conspiracy theories to defraud and destabilize his followers. He told
them that their votes had been stolen. He made them believe that everyone had
betrayed them, from local officials to the media to the Supreme Court. He
convinced them that the only way to save their nation was to “fight like hell.”
Mr. Trump whipped his loyalists into a rage, summoned them to Washington,
pointed them at Congress and then retreated to the safety of the White House to
enjoy the show.
The
prosecution had a glut of supporting evidence. The nine House managers, led by
Representative Jamie Raskin of Maryland, came armed with a cache of tweets and
other social media posts. These included incendiary messages sent by Mr. Trump
during the riot, as well as entreaties from other Republican officials for him
to call for an end to the violence. Republicans recognized his power over the
mob in the moment, even if some of their Senate colleagues are unwilling to
acknowledge that reality today.
The
managers also presented corroborating news accounts, snippets of Mr. Trump’s
speeches and interviews and, of course, video of the siege, some of it posted
online by the rioters themselves. Dozens of graphic video clips were woven
together in a tapestry of rage and madness. Police officers are seen being
shoved, beaten, cursed at and crushed. Members of the mob smash windows and
chant their desire to “hang Mike Pence!”
Previously
unseen footage revealed just how close some lawmakers came to disaster —
including Senator Mitt Romney, the Utah Republican and outspoken Trump critic,
who would have run directly into the mob if not for an interception by Eugene
Goodman, the Capitol Police officer who also drew a pack of rioters away from
the Senate chamber.
Mr. Trump’s
attorneys didn’t bother with a coherent defense. Their presentation was a
slipshod, meandering, at times incomprehensible exercise in deflection and
denial. Time and again, the defense team rejected the idea that Mr. Trump bore
any responsibility for inciting his followers to violence. No reasonable
person, the team argued, could have taken their client’s call to arms
seriously, much less literally. All those rioters who asserted before, during
and after the attack that they were following the former president’s will must
have been confused. Once again, Mr. Trump has played his most devoted
supporters for suckers and insulted the intelligence of the rest of the
American people.
This
shouldn’t be a close call. Yet nearly no one expects the Senate to convict. To
do so would require a supermajority of 67 votes, meaning 17 Republicans would
need to join forces with the Democrats and two independents. Only six
Republicans voted this week to even recognize the constitutionality of trying a
former president.
Many G.O.P.
senators made clear heading into this trial that — whether out of fear, fealty
or both — they still aren’t prepared to cross Mr. Trump and risk alienating his
cultlike following. At moments, some were visibly shaken by the evidence being
presented, but a handful were so committed to telegraphing their disdain for
the process that they couldn’t be bothered to watch the House managers’
presentation. They doodled or played on their phones or simply averted their
eyes as the horror unfolded.
This
abdication of duty is heartbreaking for the nation. It isn’t just that these
senators are putting the interests of a single man ahead of the interests of
the nation; it’s also a tacit admission that the only constituents that many
Republicans consider worth representing are their most partisan supporters.
These lawmakers see themselves less as public servants committed to the common
good than as party functionaries serving tribal interests.
It is also
politically shortsighted. To reclaim the Republican Party from the MAGAverse,
thoughtful, principled conservatives need to make clear that Mr. Trump is no
longer in charge. Holding him accountable for his role in the Jan. 6 attack is
one of Republican lawmakers’ best opportunities to signal that they, like so
much of the country, are ready to break free and move on.
Moving on
does not mean downplaying Mr. Trump’s incitements. The former president
inspired an attack on a coequal branch of government. His behavior should not
be excused simply because he is no longer the president — at least, not if the
Republican Party hopes to serve as something more than a vehicle for a toxic
cult of personality.
Mr. Trump
has made clear that he intends to maintain his grip on the G.O.P. — and that he
will work to punish any Republicans who dare to challenge him. If Republican
senators do not act now to weaken his hold, they will have him hanging around
their necks, clawing at their throats indefinitely. The next time he launches
an attack on American democracy, they will have no one but themselves to blame.
When the
House considered impeaching Mr. Trump for the second time, this board wrote
that “President Trump’s efforts to remain in office in defiance of democracy
cannot be allowed to go unanswered, lest they invite more lawlessness from this
president or those who follow.”
Nothing
presented at his trial refutes that position, and the evidence thus far
presented only reinforces the urgent need for accountability.
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