The Editorials Abandoning Donald Trump

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(Photo by Chen Mengtong/China News Service via Getty Images)

On Friday, the Rupert Murdoch-owned Wall Street Journal and New York Post published editorials saying that Donald Trump’s inaction on January 6, 2021, constituted a dereliction of duty and disqualified him from the presidency.

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My question is this: Why now?

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The easy answer is that the newspapers’ editors watched the January 6 Committee hearing on the night of Thursday, July 21, and were dismayed to see that Trump had done nothing for three hours while a mob ransacked the Capitol Building. The editors promptly published editorials condemning Trump’s inaction on Friday, July 22.

That’s the easy answer — but not the true one.

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Like many other Americans, I watched the events of January 6 unfold in real time. I saw the Capitol being attacked. I knew that Trump was in the White House doing nothing. I knew that, if Trump had been concerned, he could have immediately tweeted: “No! This is not what I meant at all! Leave the Capitol Building! Stop the violence! Go home!”

Trump could have gone on television and urged the rioters to go home.

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Trump now says that the whole assault on the Capitol was either 1) peaceful or 2) a false flag operation, with anti-Trump people actually leading the charge. That’s plainly not true, but assume that it was true. Trump could nonetheless have tweeted: “I don’t know who you people in the Capitol Building are. But, if you’re my supporters, then go home! This is not what I meant at all! Leave the Capitol Building!”

Trump didn’t do that. So we all know that Trump ignored his duty on January 6, and we’ve all known that since the moment it happened.

I’m not alone in having seen what was obvious to any sentient being on the day of January 6, 2021.

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Mitch McConnell knew that Trump had done nothing on the day of the violence, and he blamed Trump for it. McConnell no longer blames Trump, but that’s due to political cowardice not his understanding of what happened.

Kevin McCarthy knew that Trump had done nothing on the day of the violence, and he blamed Trump for it. McCarthy no longer blames Trump, but that’s due to political cowardice not his understanding of what happened.

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So I knew that Trump did nothing to stop the violence during his three hours of silence on January 6. And Mitch McConnell knew it. And Kevin McCarthy knew it. And any sentient human being knew it.

But the editors at the Wall Street Journal and Washington Post somehow didn’t know it?

Why did it take the Journal and the Post 18 months to be shocked — shocked! — to learn that the Capitol Building was ransacked on January 6 and that the president did nothing for three hours to stop it?

Could it be that the Journal and Post were concerned that they would lose readers if they took an editorial position that was unpopular with many Republicans on January 7, 2021, and the papers decided to wait for the political tide to begin to turn before acknowledging the truth? Is there some other reason for the newspapers to have come to their senses only last week?

I don’t know why the newspapers have just now decided to change their tune, but I’m 100% confident that this had nothing to do with the newspapers having suddenly realized the Trump sat silently during the violence on January 6.

Mark Herrmann spent 17 years as a partner at a leading international law firm and is now deputy general counsel at a large international company. He is the author of The Curmudgeon’s Guide to Practicing Law and Drug and Device Product Liability Litigation Strategy (affiliate links). You can reach him by email at [email protected].

Topics

Donald Trump, Government, In-House Counsel, January 6, Mark Herrmann