Washington Post Editorial Board Spells Out Why The Senate ‘Must Convict’ Trump

The newspaper’s board noted how both Republicans and Democrats had wondered whether the trial “was worth the effort.” But Democrats’ presentation of how the violence unfurled — via videos of the pro-Trump mob overrunning and ransacking the Capitol — “has crystallized in graphic and compelling detail the horror” of Jan. 6 and Trump’s “deep responsibility for it,” the board said.

The board acknowledged how most Senate Republicans “appear determined to acquit Mr. Trump, based on a flawed constitutional argument that former officials cannot be impeached.”

“Senators will bring disgrace upon their chamber if they fail to hold the former president accountable,” the editorial warned. ”No reasonable listener this week could fail to find him culpable for the Capitol assault.”

The board then suggested how Republicans should be held to account if they fail to convict Trump.

“Democrats should challenge Republicans’ constitutional dodge by introducing a censure resolution spelling out Mr. Trump’s responsibility for inciting an insurrection,” it wrote. “Each senator should be obliged to go on the record to condemn or condone a president’s unprecedented assault on U.S. democracy.”