Chris Hayes: Trump "Needs To Be Removed From Office, Quickly. He Should Be Arrested And Tried For Sedition."

[Ann Telnaes, Washington Post]

Chris Hayes, MSNBC, January 7, 2021:

Donald Trump needs to go – now.

It is no coincidence that less than an hour ago, the president released a stilted teleprompter video condemning the assault on the Capitol and conceding a new administration will be inaugurated on January 20. It was clearly a bid to halt a 25th Amendment or impeachment . . . and despite his hostage-video concession, it is still clear that Donald Trump cannot be trusted to hold the office for a minute longer. . . .

[O]ur country is in the midst of a national emergency as acute and severe as anything since the Civil War.

It is urgently important that the president of the United States be removed from office as quickly as legally possible. The president is clear and present danger to American democracy, as exemplified by many things, but certainly by his actions yesterday. As Eric Levitz aptly put it in New York Magazine, "He must be evicted from our White House immediately. He must be frog-marched out of our civic life in disgrace." Amen. . . .

[T]he man charged with . . . defending the Constitution . . . led an armed mob to the Capitol and unleashed them to overrun it. [video of Trump's speech] . . . The ensuing assault on the Capitol building resulted in the deaths of at least four people. . . . It's a miracle more people did not die. . . .

The plain truth is that the president has been openly engaging in sedition and seditious conspiracy since he lost the election. In fact, before it, honestly. Yesterday was just the capstone of it. He needs to be removed from office, quickly. And then he should be arrested and tried for sedition. That is where we are right now. Anyone who pretends otherwise is deluded. . . .

The president incited a violent mob to attack the Capitol. And the Vice President is a moral coward. Complicit in all this and ducking Congress's calls – so Congress should move immediately to impeach Trump. They absolutely should not go home, as apparently many have. He sent his armed mob into your workplace, Congress! They sent the Speaker fleeing into a secure room while they ransacked her office – at the president's behest. If that is not a crime, I do not know what is. . . .

Mitt Romney said, "We are going to have to hold our breath until Trump is gone." I have a newsflash, Senator. You can't hold your breath for 13 days. Not good enough. We are in completely uncharted territory. . . . The president is a threat to the republic . . . He needs to go right now.

 

Seth Meyers, Late Night with Seth Meyers:

I think it's important, as the first draft of history is being written, and as we are all processing what we witnessed today, to be as plain spoken and clear-eyed as possible.

What we saw today was a violent insurgency – an attempt to overthrow the legitimately-elected government of the United States. And it was incited, directed, and encouraged by the president, Donald Trump, and more than a few members of the Republican party and right-wing media. . . .

No one who aided and abetted today's actions should ever be allowed to serve in the democracy they so clearly detest. There must be consequences for stoking violence and sedition. Otherwise, we're going to see it again. And as for Trump, the only way – the only way – our democracy will survive this harrowing moment is if he is immediately removed from office by either the Cabinet or the Congress and prosecuted. Anything less is tacit permission to continue to use his office and his influence, after he leaves office, to foment sedition and dismantle democracy. And if our government fails to act, they will be assenting to the violence and destruction of the democracy they claim to care so much about.

And I think it's worth noting that while this is the first time most of us have witnessed anything like this in or lifetimes, our country is really only been a full democracy where everyone can vote for about 55 years. . . .

[J]ust because these people are brain-dead morons with sludge in their skulls doesn't mean they are not also violent seditionists. It can be a coup even though most of the people leading the coup are dumb. I'm pretty sure there were also some real fucking dipshits in the Confederacy, too. I mean, there's a [military] base named after Confederate General Braxton Bragg who, in addition to being a slaver and a traitor, was also "a jackass and an asshole . . . a bad strategist, an inept tactician .. a racist and a screw-up". He'd fit right in with the Trump crowd. . . . It shouldn't surprise us that some of the guys leading this current insurrection against the United States are also some dumbest assholes alive. . . .

Here's a question [for numerous Republicans] . . . If the presidential election was fraudulent, how come your election wasn't fraudulent? Why did you take your seat if the results from your state can't be trusted? It's the same ballot. It's literally the same piece of paper. It just shows that their arguments are obvious bullshit. It's just a lie to conceal their true aim: overthrowing democracy and installing Trump as a dictator.