Wall Street Journal editorial board tells Trump his 'best path' is to resign

(Image credit: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

published 8 January 2021

The editorial board of The Wall Street Journal said Thursday night that instead of impeaching President Trump or removing him under the 25th Amendment, it would be "best for everyone" if Trump "goes away quietly" on his own.

There are 13 days left in Trump's term, but after "Wednesday's disgrace" on the Capitol, the editorial board said, immediate action is necessary. "This was an assault on the constitutional process of transferring power after an election," the board said, and it went beyond "merely refusing to concede defeat. In our view it crosses a constitutional line that Mr. Trump hasn't previously crossed. It is impeachable."

The editorialists argued that Trump's actions were "a far greater dereliction of duty than his ham-handed Ukrainian interventions in 2019," but an impeachment this late in the presidency "won't be easy or without rancor" and would "further enrage" Trump supporters. If Trump was ousted under the 25th Amendment, that would "smack of a Beltway coup and give Mr. Trump more cause to play the political victim," the board added.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

To avoid all of this, Trump's "best path would be to take personal responsibility and resign," the Journal's editorial board determined. "This would be the cleanest solution since it would immediately turn presidential duties over to [Vice President Mike] Pence. And it would give Mr. Trump agency, a la Richard Nixon, over his own fate." While an "act of grace by Mr. Trump isn't likely," the board lamented, it would be "best for everyone, himself included, if he goes away quietly."

Explore More

Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.