History Main / ResignedInDisgrace

** By the events of ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheHalfBloodPrince'', Minister of Magic [[HeadInTheSandManagement Cornelius Fudge]] is facing down the full consequences of spending the previous book denying Voldemort's return and being proven horrifically wrong. Having totaled his reputation and cemented his legacy as a DirtyCoward and one of the worst Ministers for Magic in recorded history, he's forced to resign less than two weeks after the scandal breaks.

* ''Videogame/TheOuterWorlds'': Reed Tobson, adminstrator of the CompanyTown of Edgewater, can be convinced to abdicate his post if the player proves that the Deserter leader Adelaide McDevitt is able to cure the plagues that are constantly ravaging the town. In the hyper-corporatised setting of the game, there is pretty much no such thing as an honorable resignation, so he is left with little choice but to head into self-imposed exile in the wilderness - a fate that he will likely not survive.

[[folder:Real Life -- Politics]]
!! UsefulNotes/{{Germany}}
* In 1938, the Blomberg-Fritsch affair was used by UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler to consolidate control of the Wehrmacht and force out two generals who were considered to be too skeptical of Hitler's aggressive war plans, the former by digging up his new wife's history as a prostitute and the latter by accusing him of having a gay lover. Both men resigned (the former after refusing an order to have his marriage annulled).

!! UsefulNotes/UnitedKingdom
* What was largely expected in the British Political System in the 20th century, though politics in the 21st century has changed so much it is no longer deemed necessary. One of the most high-profile resignations was the Profumo Affair. In 1963 the Secretary of State for War John Profumo was forced to resign when it emerged he had been having an affair with a 19-year old prostitute. The fallout of it was so bad it led to the Conservatives losing the 1964 election to Labour.
* Neil Hamilton, the Minister for Deregulation and Corporate Affairs, was forced to resign in 1994 as a result of the Cash for Questions scandal, when he was found to have taken bribes to ask questions in Parliament. Tim Smith, another Minister, was also caught in this, but resigned quicker and didn't stand again. The fallout made Hamilton so unpopular that even though he held Tatton, the fourth-safest Conservative seat in the country, he lost it in the general election of 1997 to an Independent, Martin Bell.
* Happened to Matt Hancock, the Health Secretary during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic. He had already been criticised for his very cronyistic handing out of contracts, though due to this becoming increasingly blatant during the Johnson Ministry this was not paid much attention to. However in June 2021 footage leaked of him kissing an aide. It wasn't the affair that was considered the scandal, more the fact it had happened during the pandemic when Hancock was ordering social distancing to occur. Though Boris Johnson initially said he was satisfied with Hancock's apology Hancock resigned the following day.

!! UsefulNotes/UnitedStates
* U.S. President UsefulNotes/RichardNixon's resignation from office in 1974 came in the wake of the Watergate scandal, in which it was discovered that Nixon was behind a whole lot of crimes against the Democratic National Committee during his reelection campaign and against the American people as a whole. If he hadn't resigned, the nature of his crimes would have gotten him impeached and convicted by the Senate, resulting in his removal from office anyway.
* Nixon's Vice President, Spiro Agnew, had been forced to resign the previous year after federal prosecutors found that he had accepted kickbacks and bribes from construction contracts when he was a Baltimore County executive and then Governor of Maryland. Agnew agreed to resign and plead no contest rather than stand trial for tax fraud and bribery. Nixon then appointed Congressman UsefulNotes/GeraldFord to replace Agnew as VP, who then replaced Nixon when ''he'' resigned, thus making Ford the only President in American history who was never elected as President ''or'' Vice President.
* In 2006, the Republican Party was bogged down in a series of scandals. These and other controversies such as the Iraq War, the poor response to Hurricane Katrina, the Abramoff lobbying scandal, and a bungled attempt to privatize Social Security led to Democrats gaining control of Congress in the 2006 midterm elections and the presidency in 2008.
** In November 2005, Duke Cunningham (R-CA) served eight years in jail for accepting bribes from defense contractors, but was pardoned by President UsefulNotes/DonaldTrump in 2021.
** House Majority Leader Tom [=DeLay=] (R-TX) resigned because a Texas court charged him of violating campaign finance laws and money laundering. [=DeLay=] pleaded not guilty, claiming political motivation for the charges, but was found guilty in 2010. His conviction was overturned in 2013 due to insufficient evidence.
** The most serious of these was Mark Foley (R-FL), who sent lewd texts to Congressional pages and interns. The case was thrown out in 2008 and the charges were dropped because of insufficient evidence. Because of her ties to Foley, Rep. Sue Kelly (R-NY) lost to Democratic challenger John Hall when she was a no-show at a televised debate sponsored by the League of Women Voters. That the Republican higher-ups knew of Foley's conduct and did nothing enabled the Democrats to label them as apathetic slackers and corrupt grifters mooching off the public. The ensuing controversy caused the House of Representatives to end the Congressional page program in 2011 for good.
** Bob Ney (R-OH) resigned after he pleaded guilty to charges of conspiracy and making false statements in relation to the Abramoff Indian lobbying scandal. He served thirty months in prison.
** Don Sherwood (R-PA) lost his House seat as he tried concealing an extramarital affair and was accused of abusing the woman whom he had the affair with.
** Curt Weldon (R-PA) lost his House seat for misusing his campaign funds for personal use and using his position to curry favors with defense companies so they'll get favorable government contracts.
** Because of his indifference to these scandals (and being embroiled in a scandal for failing to disclose that a proposed highway he championed would boost the value of real estate properties he ultimately sold for a huge profit; said highway project was killed in 2012 when environmental regulators voiced their opposition), former Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert (R-IL) resigned from his House seat in 2007. Hastert would fall into further controversy when it was revealed that he paid hush money to hide child molestation incidents that dated back to when he was a high school coach, becoming the top elected official in U.S. history to end up in jail.
* After the 2021 U.S. Capitol riot [[note]]in which a devout mob of Trump supporters violently attempted to stop Congress from formalizing Biden's victory, leading to many critics of Trump describing it [[TheCoup as an attempted self-coup]]. Before this, Trump [[SoreLoser baselessly cried foul]] and filed over 70 {{frivolous lawsuit}}s against the swing states he lost in an attempt to invalidate the 2020 results. Usually, January 6 is the date where Congress approves the election results for the President every 4 years. Although there were past instances of objections made to a certain state's electoral count, these were shot down. None of the objections made in the 2020 Electoral College ceremony went ahead as there weren't enough votes[[/note]], several of President UsefulNotes/DonaldTrump's cabinet members quit ''en masse'' even though their terms were to end on January 20. Others stayed to ensure a smooth transition of power to the incoming UsefulNotes/JoeBiden administration, fearing that Trump’s appearance could incite further chaos.
* In 2021, New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo resigned his position amidst bipartisan calls for his resignation and the possibility of an impeachment trial after his initial refusal to do so. While his administration had been mired in several controversies, most notably his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, it wasn't until multiple women came forward with sexual misconduct allegations against him and an Attorney General's report that confirmed them that Cuomo stepped down.
[[/folder]]

* Kardue'sai'Malloc of ''Literature/TalesFromTheMosEisleyCantina'' once served as a captain in his home planet's military, continuing to serve even once the army began accepting orders from the Empire. However, after managing to capture seven hundred rebel sympathizers from among his fellow Devaronians, he received an order to march onwards without his captives and without leaving behind any guards; [[MurderIsTheBestSolution Malloc had all seven hundred prisoners shot dead]]. He soon realized that his own people wanted him dead as a result, and submitted his resignation to the Imperial Army; the moment it was accepted, he fled Devaron with his reputation in tatters - [[RetiredMonster eventually winding up as a drunk on Tatooine]].

** In the final episodes of season three, Malcolm ends up in conflict with [[SmugSnake Steve Fleming]], an ex-Chief Whip out for revenge after becoming a victim of this trope. During a scandal over botched crime statistics, Fleming is able to use Malcolm as a scapegoat for the crisis and force him to resign - [[HoistByHisOwnPetard even recycling his own tactic of leaking the resignation to the media before telling him about it]]. However...
** ...in the season finale, [[FriendlyEnemy Julius Nicholson]] reinstates Malcolm as Director of Communications in order to prevent Dan Miller's attempted takeover, promising to pardon him and Fleming of all wrongdoing in his official report... [[XanatosSpeedChess only for Malcolm to spread a rumour that the report is going to pin the blame entirely on Fleming]], eventually prompting the ex-whip to confront Nicholson -- not realizing that a journalist has been tipped off about their meeting and is photographing everything -- making it look as if Fleming was trying to influence the report. Consequently, Fleming is scapegoated for the entire incident and forced to resign.

* After the 2021 U.S. Capitol storming[[note]]in which a far-right mob of Trump supporters violently attempted to stop Congress from formalizing Biden's victory, leading to many describe it [[TheCoup as an attempted self-coup]]. Before this, Trump [[SoreLoser baselessly cried foul]] and filed over 70 {{frivolous lawsuit}}s against the swing states he lost in an attempt to invalidate the 2020 results. Usually, January 6 is the date where Congress approves the election results for the President every 4 years. Although there were past instances of objections made to a certain state's electoral count, these were shot down. None of the objections made in the 2020 Electoral College ceremony went ahead as there weren't enough votes[[/note]], several of President UsefulNotes/DonaldTrump's cabinet members quit ''en masse'' even though their terms were to end on January 20. Others stayed to ensure a smooth transition of power to the incoming UsefulNotes/JoeBiden administration, fearing that Trump could incite further chaos.

** Carefully avoided by Commissioner Burrell himself in season 5. The new mayor, Tommy Carcetti, was already planning to give Burrell the boot and temporarily promotes Bill Rawls to replace Burrell when a major scandal seemingly gives him the perfect opportunity to get rid of Burrell. However, Burrell refuses to resign and tells Carcetti that he will have to fire him, knowing that the white mayor forcibly replacing a black commissioner with his white deputy would look extremely bad politically in a majority-black city (the minority community leaders are willing to tolerate one of those posts not being held by an African American, but not both). Carcetti has to settle for making Burrell a figurehead still drawing a hefty salary for doing essentially nothing while Rawls runs the day to day operations. When Burrell does eventually resign, he manages to do so without being publicly disgraced, he keeps his connections to Baltimore's corrupt power players intact, and he has to be mollified out of raising a stink about the whole thing by being gifted a cushy job elsewhere.

** Because of his indifference to these scandals (and being embroiled in a scandal for failing to disclose that a proposed highway he championed would boost the value of real estate properties he ultimately sold for a huge profit; said highway project was killed in 2012 when environmental regulators voiced their opposition), former Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert (R-IL) resigned from his House seat in 2007. He would fall into further controversy when it was revealed that he paid hush money to hide child molestation incidents that dated back to when he was a high school coach; he eventually became the highest-ranking elected official in U.S. history to end up in jail.

* In 2005, the Republican Party was bogged down in a series of scandals. These and other controversies such as the Iraq War, the poor response to Hurricane Katrina, the Abramoff lobbying scandal, and a bungled attempt to privatize Social Security led to Democrats gaining control of Congress in the 2006 midterm elections and the presidency in 2008.

** The most serious of these was Mark Foley (R-FL), who sent lewd texts to Congressional pages and interns. The case was thrown out in 2008 and the charges were dropped because of insufficient evidence. Because of her ties to Foley, Rep. Sue Kelly (R-NY) lost to Democratic challenger John Hall when she was a no-show at a televised debate sponsored by the League of Women Voters. That the Republican higher-ups knew of Foley's conduct and did nothing enabled the Democrats to label them as apathetic and corrupt grifters mooching off the public.

[[folder:Real Life]]

* U.S. President UsefulNotes/RichardNixon's resignation from office in 1974 came in the wake of the Watergate scandal, in which it was discovered that Nixon was behind a whole lot of crimes against the Democratic National Committee during his reelection campaign and against the American people as a whole. If he hadn't resigned, the nature of his crimes would have gotten him impeached and convicted by the Senate, resulting in his removal from office anyway.
* Nixon's Vice President, Spiro Agnew, had been forced to resign the previous year after federal prosecutors found that he had accepted kickbacks and bribes from construction contracts when he was a Baltimore County executive and then Governor of Maryland. Agnew agreed to resign and plead no contest rather than stand trial for tax fraud and bribery. Nixon then appointed Congressman UsefulNotes/GeraldFord to replace Agnew as VP, who then replaced Nixon when ''he'' resigned, thus making Ford the only President in American history who was never elected as President ''or'' Vice President.

* After the 2021 U.S. Capitol storming[[note]]in which a far-right mob of Trump supporters violently attempted to stop Congress from formalizing Biden's victory, leading to many describe it [[TheCoup as an attempted self-coup]]. Before this, Trump [[SoreLoser baselessly cried foul]] and filed over 70 {{frivolous lawsuit}}s against the swing states he lost in an attempt to invalidate the 2020 results. Usually, January 6 is the date where Congress approves the election results for the President every 4 years. Although there were past instances of objections made to a certain state's electoral count, these were shot down. None of the objections made in the 2020 Electoral College ceremony went ahead as there weren't enough votes[[/note]], several of President UsefulNotes/DonaldTrump's cabinet members quit ''en masse'' even though their terms were to end on January 20. Others stayed to ensure a smooth transition of power to the incoming UsefulNotes/JoeBiden administration, fearing that Trump could incite further chaos.

** Carefully avoided by Commissioner Burrell himself in season 5. The new mayor, Tommy Carcetti, was already planning to give Burrell the boot and temporarily promotes Bill Rawls to replace Burrell when a major scandal seemingly gives him the perfect opportunity to get rid of Burrell. However, Burrell refuses to resign and tells Carcetti that he will have to fire him, knowing that the white mayor forcibly replacing a black commissioner with his white deputy would look extremely bad in a majority-black city (the minority community leaders are willing to tolerate one of those posts not being held by an African American, but not both). Carcetti has to settle for making Burrell a figurehead still drawing a hefty salary for doing essentially nothing while Rawls runs the day to day operations. When Burrell does eventually resign, he manages to do so without being publicly disgraced, he keeps his connections to Baltimore's corrupt power players intact, and he has to be mollified out of raising a stink about the whole thing by being gifted a cushy job elsewhere.

** Carefully avoided by Commissioner Burrell himself in season 5. The new mayor, Tommy Carcetti, was already planning to give Burrell the boot and temporarily promotes Bill Rawls to replace Burrell when a major scandal seemingly gives him the perfect opportunity to get rid of Burrell. However, Burrell refuses to resign and tells Carcetti that he will have to fire him, knowing that the white mayor replacing a black commissioner with his white deputy would look extremely bad in a majority-black city (the minority community leaders are willing to tolerate one of those posts not being held by an African American, but not both). Carcetti has to settle for making Burrell a figurehead still drawing a hefty salary for doing essentially nothing while Rawls runs the day to day operations. When Burrell does eventually resign, he manages to do so without being publicly disgraced, he keeps his connections to Baltimore's corrupt power players intact, and he has to be mollified out of raising a stink about the whole thing by being gifted a cushy job elsewhere.

** Carefully avoided by Commissioner Burrell himself in season 5. The new mayor, Tommy Carcetti, was already planning to give Burrell the boot and temporarily promotes Bill Rawls to replace Burrell when a major scandal seemingly gives him the perfect opportunity to get rid of Burrell. However, Burrell refuses to resign and tells Carcetti that he will have to fire him, knowing that the white mayor replacing a black commissioner with his white deputy would look extremely bad in a majority-black city (the minority community leaders are willing to tolerate one or the other, but not both). Carcetti has to settle for making Burrell a figurehead still drawing a hefty salary for doing essentially nothing while Rawls runs the day to day operations. When Burrell does eventually resign, he manages to do so without being publicly disgraced, he keeps his connections to Baltimore's corrupt power players intact, and he has to be mollified out of raising a stink about the whole thing by being gifted a cushy job elsewhere.

** Carefully avoided by Commissioner Burrell himself in season 5. The new mayor, Tommy Carcetti, was already planning to give Burrell the boot and temporarily promote Bill Rawls to replace Burrell when a major scandal seemingly gives him the perfect opportunity to get rid of Burrell. However, Burrell refuses to resign and tells Carcetti that he will have to fire him, knowing that the white mayor replacing a black commissioner with his white deputy would look extremely bad in a majority-black city (the minority community leaders are willing to tolerate one or the other, but not both). Carcetti has to settle for making Burrell a figurehead still drawing a hefty salary for doing essentially nothing while Rawls runs the day to day operations. When Burrell does eventually resign, he manages to do so without being publicly disgraced, he keeps his connections to Baltimore's corrupt power players intact, and he has to be mollified out of raising a stink about the whole thing by being gifted a cushy job elsewhere.

* In 1938, the Blomberg-Fritsch affair was used by UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler to consolidate control of the Wehrmacht and force out two generals who were considered too skeptical of Hitler's aggressive war plans, the former by digging up his new wife's history as a prostitute and the latter by accusing him of having a gay lover. Both men resigned (the former after refusing an order to have his marriage annulled).

* In 2021, New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo (D) resigned his position amidst bipartisan calls for his resignation and the possibility of an impeachment trial after his initial refusal to do so. While his administration had been mired in several controversies, most notably his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, it wasn't until multiple women came forward with sexual misconduct allegations against him and an Attorney General's report that confirmed them that Cuomo stepped down.

* After the 2021 U.S. Capitol storming[[note]]in which a far-right mob of Trump supporters violently attempted to stop Congress from formalizing Biden's victory. Before this, Trump [[SoreLoser baselessly cried foul]] and filed over 70 {{frivolous lawsuit}}s against the swing states he lost in an unprecedented effort to flip the 2020 results. Usually, January 6 is the date where Congress approves the election results for the President every 4 years. Although there were past instances of objections made to a certain state's electoral count, these were shot down. None of the six objections in the 2020 Electoral College ceremony went ahead as there weren't enough votes[[/note]], several of President UsefulNotes/DonaldTrump's cabinet members quit ''en masse'' even though their terms were to end on January 20. Others stayed to ensure a smooth transition of power to the incoming UsefulNotes/JoeBiden administration, fearing that Trump could incite further chaos.
* In 2005, the Republican Party was bogged down in a series of scandals. These and other controversies such as the Iraq War, the poor response to Hurricane Katrina, the Abramoff lobbying scandal, and a bungled attempt to privatize Social Security led to Democrats gaining control of Congress in the 2006 midterm elections.

** The most serious of these was of Mark Foley (R-FL), who sent lewd texts to Congressional pages and interns. The case was thrown out in 2008 and the charges were dropped because of insufficient evidence. Because of her ties to Foley, Rep. Sue Kelly (R-NY) lost to Democratic challenger John Hall when she was a no-show at a televised debate sponsored by the League of Women Voters. That the Republican higher-ups knew of Foley's conduct and did nothing enabled the Democrats to lampoon them as a bunch of apathetic and corrupt grifters mooching off the public.

** Because of his indifference to these scandals (and being embroiled in a scandal for failing to disclose that a proposed highway he championed would boost the value of real estate properties he ultimately sold for a huge profit; said highway project was killed in 2012 when environmental regulators voiced their opposition), former Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert (R-IL) resigned from his House seat in 2007. Hastert would later fall into further controversy when it was discovered that he paid hush money to cover up child molestation incidents that dated back to h a high school coach; he eventually became the highest-ranking elected official in U.S. history to end up in jail.

* After the 2021 U.S. Capitol storming[[note]]in which a far-right mob of Trump supporters violently attempted to stop Congress from formalizing Biden's victory. Before this, Trump [[SoreLoser baselessly cried foul]] and filed over 70 {{frivolous lawsuit}}s against the swing states he lost in an unprecedented effort to flip the 2020 results. Usually, January 6 is the date where Congress approves the election results for the President every 4 years. Although there were past instances of objections made to a certain state's electoral count, these were mostly rejected. None of the objections made by several GOP congresspersons in the 2020 Electoral College proceedings went ahead as there weren't enough votes[[/note]], several of President UsefulNotes/DonaldTrump's cabinet members quit ''en masse'' even though their terms were to end on January 20. Others stayed to ensure a smooth transition of power to the incoming UsefulNotes/JoeBiden administration, fearing that Trump could install cronies who would do his bidding and incite more chaos.

* Towards the end of ''[[Literature/DifferentSeasons Rita Hayworth And The Shawshank Redemption]]'', Andy Dufresne escapes from Shawshank Prison without triggering a single alarm and is never seen again. [[WardensAreEvil Warden Sam Norton]] is left absolutely humiliated: quite apart from the fact that he was forcing Andy to launder his bribe money, the fact that an inmate was able to dig a hole in the wall of his cell over nearly thirty years ''and'' escape through it without anyone suspecting a thing proves to be a major embarrassment to the Warden; within three months of the incident, he resigns with his reputation in tatters.

The administrative counterpart to the RoleEndingMisdemeanor, a character who must resign in disgrace is usually (but not always) a high-ranking business figure or government official caught in the midst of a scandal: regardless of whether the scandal was actually their fault or not (or based on unfounded rumors, or they were acquitted of all charges, or what have you), the crisis has undermined their position too badly for their work to continue.

* After the 2021 U.S. Capitol storming[[note]]in which a far-right mob of Trump supporters violently attempted to stop Congress from formalizing Biden's victory. Before this, Trump [[SoreLoser baselessly cried foul]] and filed over 70 {{frivolous lawsuit}}s against the swing states he lost in an unprecedented effort to flip the 2020 results. Usually, January 6 is the date where Congress approves the election results for the President every 4 years. Although there were past instances of objections made to a certain state's electoral count, these were mostly rejected. None of the objections made by several GOP congresspersons in the 2020 Electoral College proceedings went ahead as there weren't enough votes[[/note]], several of President UsefulNotes/DonaldTrump's cabinet members quit ''en masse'' even though their terms were to end on January 20. Others stayed to ensure a smooth transition of power to the incoming UsefulNotes/JoeBiden administration, fearing that Trump could install cronies who would do his bidding and incite more chaos. An attempt to invoke the 25th Amendment and remove Trump from power failed as there wasn't enough support, nor were there enough votes in the Senate to convict him during his second impeachment[[note]]even though seven GOP senators voted for it[[/note]].

* After the 2021 U.S. Capitol storming[[note]]in which a far-right mob, egged on by then-President Trump, violently attempted to stop Congress from formalizing Joe Biden's victory. Before this, Trump [[SoreLoser baselessly cried foul]] and filed over 70 {{frivolous lawsuit}}s against the swing states he lost in an unprecedented effort to flip the 2020 election. Normally, January 6 is the date where Congress rubber-stamps the election results for the President every 4 years. Although there were past instances where objections were made to a certain state's electoral count, these were usually rejected. Even in the 2020 Electoral College proceedings, none of the six objections made by several GOP senators and reps went ahead because there weren't enough votes[[/note]], several of President UsefulNotes/DonaldTrump's cabinet members quit ''en masse'' even though their terms were to end on January 20, 2021. Others stayed to ensure a smooth transition of power to the incoming UsefulNotes/JoeBiden administration, fearing that Trump could install cronies who would do his bidding and incite more chaos. An attempt to invoke the 25th Amendment and remove Trump from power failed as there wasn't enough support, nor were there enough votes in the Senate to convict him during his second impeachment[[note]]even though there were seven GOP senators who voted for it[[/note]].

* After the 2021 U.S. Capitol storming[[note]]in which a far-right mob, egged on by then-President Trump, violently attempted to stop Congress from formalizing Joe Biden's victory. Before this, Trump [[SoreLoser baselessly cried foul]] and filed over 70 {{frivolous lawsuit}}s against the swing states he lost in an unprecedented effort to flip the 2020 election. Normally, January 6 is the date where Congress rubber-stamps the election results for the President every 4 years. Although there were several instances where objections were made to a certain state's electoral count, these were usually shot down due to a lack of support. Even in the 2020 Electoral College proceedings, none of the six objections made by several GOP senators and reps went ahead because there weren't enough votes[[/note]], several of President UsefulNotes/DonaldTrump's cabinet members quit ''en masse'' even though their terms were to end on January 20, 2021. Others stayed to ensure a smooth transition of power to the incoming UsefulNotes/JoeBiden administration, fearing that Trump could install cronies who would do his bidding and incite more chaos. An attempt to invoke the 25th Amendment and remove Trump from power failed as there wasn't enough support, nor were there enough votes in the Senate to convict him during his second impeachment[[note]]even though there were seven GOP senators who voted for it[[/note]].

* After the 2021 U.S. Capitol storming[[note]]in which a far-right mob, egged on by then-President Trump, violently attempted to stop Congress from formalizing Joe Biden's victory. Before this, Trump [[SoreLoser baselessly cried foul]] and filed over 70 {{frivolous lawsuit}}s against the swing states he lost in an unprecedented effort to flip the 2020 election[[/note]], several of President UsefulNotes/DonaldTrump's cabinet members quit ''en masse'' even though their terms were to end on January 20, 2021. Others stayed to ensure a smooth transition of power to the incoming UsefulNotes/JoeBiden administration, fearing that Trump could install cronies who would do his bidding and incite more chaos. An attempt to invoke the 25th Amendment and remove Trump from power failed as there wasn't enough support, nor were there enough votes in the Senate to convict him during his second impeachment trial[[note]]even though there were seven GOP senators who voted for impeachment[[/note]].

* In 2006, the Republican Party was bogged down in a series of scandals. The Democrats used this to lampoon them as a bunch of apathetic grifters mooching off the public, what with these and other controversies such as the Iraq War, the government's poor handling of Hurricane Katrina, the Abramoff lobbying scandal, and a bungled attempt to privatize Social Security.

** House Majority Leader Tom [=DeLay=] (R-TX) resigned from the House because a Texas court charged him of violating campaign finance laws and money laundering. [=DeLay=] pleaded not guilty, claiming political motivation for the charges, but was found guilty in 2010. His conviction was overturned in 2013 due to insufficient evidence.
** The most serious of these was that of Mark Foley (R-FL), who sent lewd texts to Congressional pages and interns. The case was thrown out in 2008 and the charges were dropped because of insufficient evidence. Because of her ties to Foley, Rep. Sue Kelly (R-NY) lost to Democratic challenger John Hall when she was a no-show at a televised debate sponsored by the League of Women Voters. That the Republican higher-ups knew of Foley's conduct and did nothing played a major role in the Democrats' victory in the 2006 midterm elections, as noted by observers.