Political violence is always wrong. This should not be a controversial statement. Politicians who incite, praise, or enable violence like what the nation saw at the Capitol on Wednesday should be voted out or otherwise removed from office.

Although President Trump cannot take all the blame for every action taken by those who stormed the Capitol grounds Wednesday — each person has personal responsibility — his lies about a stolen election and his request that angry protesters march to the Capitol mark a disgraceful and irresponsible incitement that led to an act of mob rule. Trump’s after-the-fact encouragement of the protesters to be “peaceful” was far too little, too late, in addition to being marred by his further wallowing in self-pitying, false conspiracy theories about how the election was stolen from him.