St. Louis Post-Dispatch Editorial: Trump must go -- and take Hawley with him
From a historical perspective, last week’s events rank up there with the 9/11 attacks and the 1814 burning of the Capitol by British troops for the sense of existential crisis and tumult they wrought on the American psyche. What the nation witnessed live on television Wednesday was an American president rallying his followers outside the White House to march on Capitol Hill while his lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, urged them to convene a “trial by combat.” President Donald Trump’s storm troopers dutifully complied.
Inside the Capitol, Senators Josh Hawley of Missouri and Ted Cruz of Texas led a Republican attempt to block certification of a legitimate presidential election so Trump could remain in power despite having lost the Nov. 3 election. The two senators, again on national television, joined forces with the president to promote a list of lies and deliberate distortions. They helped whip up the hysteria among Trump’s supporters by lending credence to his assertions that the election was stolen. Thus motivated by Hawley and Cruz, and commanded by Trump and Giuliani, hundreds scaled the walls of the Capitol, bashed in windows, forced open doors, and began their rampage while Vice President Mike Pence and Senate and House members ran for cover. Five people died, including a Capitol police officer.
What America witnessed was the attempted destruction of democracy, with Missouri’s junior senator helping lead the way — at the very moment he was issuing an appeal for campaign donations. His earliest sponsor and mentor, former Sen. Jack Danforth of Missouri, now says he regrets ever having backed Hawley. One of the senator’s biggest donors, businessman David Humphreys, says Hawley should face Senate censure. A Republican colleague, Sen. Ben Sasse of Nebraska, questioned the “perverse incentives” driving Hawley and told National Public Radio that soliciting donations during a Senate session was “disgusting.” Publisher Simon & Schuster canceled a book deal with Hawley, citing “his role in what became a dangerous threat to our democracy and freedom.”
This newspaper stands by our call for Hawley to resign. The damage he inflicted on American democracy won’t be easily repaired. Missourians can no longer afford to keep in power a senator who demonstrates not the faintest understanding of what democracy actually means. For him, it is merely a tool for him to collect donations and climb the political ladder, perhaps to be installed in the same Oval Office where his mentor in megalomania now sits. Just as Trump must be held accountable by Congress for his actions, so must Hawley and Cruz.
Read more: https://www.stltoday.com/opinion/editorial/editorial-trump-must-go-and-take-hawley-with-him/article_f605a25e-d0bc-5bcd-b678-2f314974a62d.html
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Traitors! 
Great article! 
ty!
