Wall Street Journal urges GOP to dump Trump over his 'truly stupid' Mar-a-Lago cover-up

Reacting to the superseding indictment filed against Donald Trump this past week that contains three new charges tied to obstruction of justice and illegally sharing classified documents, the opinion editors of the conservative Wall Street Journal urged Republican lawmakers to stop making excuses for him and make sure he is not on the ticket in the 2024 election.

Citing overwhelming evidence that the former president had close aides — who have now been indicted themselves as co-conspirators — attempt to erase surveillance video sought by the FBI at his Mar-a-Lago resort, the editors declared that enough is enough and provided a laundry list of Trump transgressions that continue to cast a shadow over his third presidential run.

"Does Donald Trump not understand the greatest truism in politics — i.e., that it’s not the crime, it’s the coverup? That screams from the page while reading Thursday’s superseding indictment of Mr. Trump, who now stands accused of trying to delete incriminating Mar-a-Lago security video," the editors wrote before bluntly adding, "Mr. Trump is entitled to a defense and presumption of innocence, but this is a damaging allegation."

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Pointing out that, "If Mr. Trump sought to destroy evidence, it undercuts his defense on the document charges. He contends that the Presidential Records Act gives him the right to retain documents from his time in office. But if Mr. Trump believed that, he would have played it straight," the editors made a strong case that GOP lawmakers should be furious with the former president for what he has put them through for years now.

"Republicans should also be angry at Mr. Trump, who is again the architect of his own destruction. He led the GOP to defeats, many of them driven by his personal grievances, in 2018, 2020, 2021 and 2022. Add his Covid performance, the Jan. 6 riot, a $5 million civil jury verdict for sexual abuse, plus now a truly stupid alleged Mar-a-Lago coverup," they wrote before continuing, "Yet Mr. Trump still expects the GOP will save him from his own recklessness by nominating him for the White House a third time. He wants Republican voters, as he does Messrs. [Walt] Nauta and [Carlos] De Oliveira, to take the fall with him."

"Good luck if they do. The best revenge for Mr. Trump’s supporters would be to nominate a Republican who can beat Mr. Biden. That’s the way to restore apolitical justice," they concluded.

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