Some quotes from the Editorial Board at the NYT for posterity:
“Mr. Trump spun lies and conspiracy theories to defraud and destabilize his followers. He told them that their votes had been stolen.
He made them believe that everyone had betrayed them, from local officials to the media to the Supreme Court.
He convinced them that the only way to save their nation was to “fight like hell.”
Mr. Trump whipped his loyalists into a rage, summoned them to Washington, pointed them at Congress and then retreated to the safety of the White House to enjoy the show.”
“Mr. Trump’s attorneys didn’t bother with a coherent defense. Their presentation was a slipshod, meandering, at times incomprehensible exercise in deflection and denial.
Time and again, the defense team rejected the idea that Mr. Trump bore any responsibility for inciting his followers to violence.
No reasonable person, the team argued, could have taken their client’s call to arms seriously, much less literally.
All those rioters who asserted before, during and after the attack that they were following the former president’s will must have been confused.
Once again, Mr. Trump has played his most devoted supporters for suckers and insulted the intelligence of the rest of the American people.”
“Mr. Trump has made clear that he intends to maintain his grip on the G.O.P. — and that he will work to punish any Republicans who dare to challenge him.
If Republican senators do not act now to weaken his hold, they will have him hanging around their necks, clawing at their throats indefinitely.
The next time he launches an attack on American democracy, they will have no one but themselves to blame.“
67 and counting.