Over 300 historians call for Trump’s impeachment and removal in open letter
Best-selling authors and academics want Trump punished to discourage other presidents from challenging an election result
This week over 300 historians and constitutional scholars joined the call for Donald Trump’s impeachment and removal from office.
Monday, the group published an open letter on Medium arguing that Trump poses “a clear and present danger to American democracy and the national security of the United States” as long as he is allowed to remain in office.
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“Since November 2020, Trump has refused to accept the results of a free and fair election, something no president before him has ever done,” the letter reads.
“Instead of engaging in the peaceful transfer of power, he encouraged an insurrection by a mob of his supporters on Jan. 6, 2021, urging them to march on the U.S. Capitol, to “fight,” in his word, and halt the constitutionally prescribed process of counting the electoral votes that would confirm former Vice President Joseph R. Biden as President-Elect.”
The hundreds of signatories include author/scholars Michael Eric Dyson and Jabari Asim, Pulitzer Prize winners Ron Chernow and Stacy Schiff, best-selling authors like Taylor Branch and Garry Wills, and several leading academics in the history field.
In the wake of last week’s violent siege on the U.S. Capitol that left five people dead, the letter explains that Trump has to face a level of punishment that would deter any future leaders from using him as an example on how to create similar chaos.
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“He is a clear and present danger to American democracy and the national security of the United States,” they conclude. “He has disqualified himself from continuing to serve out even his few remaining days as president, as well as from ever again holding, according to the Constitution, “any Office of honor, Trust or profit under the United States.” We urge members of the House of Representatives to conduct a speedy impeachment and the Senate to hold a prompt trial as the Constitution stipulates.”
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