Every Newspaper Should Be Calling on Donald Trump to Resign

My favorite statistic of this misbegotten era—and by "favorite," I mean the one most likely to make me drain the Earth's entire supply of whiskey—is the one that press critic Eric Boehlert likes to toss around when he reminds us that more than 100 of the nation's newspapers called for Bill Clinton to resign during the Great Penis Chase of 1998. Clinton, we were told, over and over again, had demonstrated his unfitness for the office of president because of his relationship with Monica Lewinsky. As Boehlert recalled in his essential Press Run newsletter:

"He should resign because he has resolutely failed — and continues to fail — the most fundamental test of any president: to put his nation's interests first," USA Today announced unequivocally of Bill Clinton in September 1998. "Bill Clinton should resign, echoed the Philadelphia Inquirer. "He should resign because his repeated, reckless deceits have dishonored his presidency beyond repair." The Denver Post, Washington Times, Orlando Sentinel, San Antonio Express-News, Anchorage Daily News, and Manchester (N.H.) Union Leader were among the dailies that joined the resignation chorus.

Yet, as Boehlert points out, none of these guardians of the people's liberties has called for the resignation of a president* who dishonors the presidency just by getting out of bed in the East Wing every morning. It probably wouldn't do any material good; Clinton ignored the calls for his resignation, too. But it would be a demonstration that another institution was pushing back against a criminal presidency*, the fundamental incompetence of which has contributed to the deaths of over 200,000 citizens.

The New York Times, which has not called for the president*'s resignation either, has the latest entry in a bill of indictment that now reaches from the Potomac to a spot somewhere in north Georgia.

The guidance said it was not necessary to test people without symptoms of Covid-19 even if they had been exposed to the virus. It came at a time when public health experts were pushing for more testing rather than less, and administration officials told The Times that the document was a C.D.C. product and had been revised with input from the agency’s director, Dr. Robert Redfield. But officials told The Times this week that the Department of Health and Human Services did the rewriting and then “dropped” it into the C.D.C.’s public website, flouting the agency’s strict scientific review process. “That was a doc that came from the top down, from the H.H.S. and the task force,” said a federal official with knowledge of the matter, referring to the White House task force on the coronavirus. “That policy does not reflect what many people at the C.D.C. feel should be the policy.”

As the Times notes, this isn't the first time that political hacks installed at HHS have monkeywrenched documents from the CDC regarding public safety during the pandemic. BUT WE GOT FOOTBALL AGAIN! Jesus. That any thinking human being would vote for four more years of this madness makes me wonder if Darwin wasted a lot of time.

Charles P. Pierce Charles P Pierce is the author of four books, most recently Idiot America, and has been a working journalist since 1976.

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