I didn’t really want to write this article because I’ll probably get kicked out of huge tech sooner than I expected, but as a lawyer whose favorite area of law is constitutional law, I consider it my duty. The left is trying to get rid of President Trump before his term ends, claiming he incited the insurrection speech delivered near the White House on January 6. Democrats in the House of Representatives prepared the bill Articles of impeachment with over 150 sponsors. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi compared Trump’s actions to President Nixon’s actions in the Watergate case. Dozens of Democrats and some Republicans are also calling on Vice President Mike Pence and the Cabinet to remove Trump under the 25th Amendment, saying he is no longer fit to hold office.
The articles of impeachment say Trump will be removed for high treason, bribery or other high crimes and misdemeanors under the Fourteenth Amendment, which prohibits the president (as well as the vice president, Congress and state legislators) from engaging in insurrection against the Constitution.
They exploit a lot of vague, lofty language, but lack detail. They say he “seriously threatened the security of the United States government.” They claim he “threaten the integrity of the democratic system, interfered with the peaceful transfer of power, and endangered the coordinated branch of government.” What do they say are his hazardous words? He says he won the election with a majority of votes. He encouraged “imminent unlawful actions” that “disrupted the peaceful transfer of power.” They claim he “will remain a threat to national security, democracy and the constitution if he is allowed to remain in office.”
Does this meet the definition of incitement in the Criminal Code? In the past, Congress has looked to the penal code to assess impeachment offenses. Supreme Court case Clarence Brandenburg v. Ohio established a legal standard regarding violent speech, that is, speech “directed to incite or bring about imminent unlawful action and which is likely to incite or cause such action.”
So let’s take a look at what Trump actually said. “I know that everyone here will soon be heading to the Capitol to peacefully and patriotically make your voices heard.” This is the opposite of inciting violence. This is speech protected under the First Amendment. In fact, this is the heart of free speech, the right to march in political protest.
As for remaining a threat if he remains in office and thwarting a peaceful transition of power, Democrats failed to mention in their articles that after the violence began, Trump tweeted twice condemning the violence and then re-posted a video condemning it. He he admitted elections, saying his “focus now is on ensuring a smooth, orderly and seamless transfer of power.”
Allan Favish, writing for The American Thinker, noticed that the breach occurred before Trump’s speech ended and that most people in the Capitol did not hear Trump’s speech near the White House or watch it on their phones. Multiple videos later appeared online showing Capitol Police letting protesters in peacefully and even directing where they should go once inside the building.
Constitutional law professor Jonathan Turley, a longtime Democrat considered fair, noticed“While I have been very critical of the President’s remarks, he has never actually incited violence or riots. Indeed, he expressly ordered his followers to “express their voices peacefully and patriotically.” He said, “Let’s go down Pennsylvania Avenue.” Such marches are common in both federal and state capitals.” Turley excellent that under Democratic standards, “any president can be impeached for rhetoric that is believed to have a ‘natural tendency’ to encourage rebellious behavior in others.” He warned that impeachment in this case would set a hazardous precedent for freedom of speech.
Laurie Levenson, a law professor at the University of California, Los Angeles and former assistant U.S. attorney in Los Angeles, also is skeptical that Trump’s statements are being prosecuted. Renato Marriotti, former federal prosecutor and legal columnist for Politico, he said “Encouraging words alone are not enough.”
The Democrats’ accusations are astonishing considering their leaders encouraged violent Antifa and BLM riots last summer. Vice President-elect Kamala Harris encouraged her millions of Twitter followers to donate to a fundraiser that paid bail for riot defendants. Biden’s staff did it too and nothing happened to them. Antifa I want overthrow the constitution. BLM is Marxist movement. Additionally, in 2018, Biden he said on Trump: “If we were in high school, I would take him behind the gym and beat the hell out of him.”
And how many current elected members of Congress and state legislators – who can also be impeached for inciting insurrection – have said much worse than Trump? In 2018, Pelosi he complained on the separation of family members of illegal immigrants at the southern border: “I just don’t even know why there aren’t uprisings across the country. And maybe that will happen when people realize that this is the policy they are defending. Last September she referred to Trump and Republican members of Congress as “domestic enemies” and “enemies of the state.”
In 2018, Maxine Waters (D-California) he said her supporters to physically harass members of Trump’s cabinet. Member of the “branch” Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.) called “unrest in the streets” continued. As Minneapolis burned due to riots, another branch member, Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), he tweeted“Our anger is righteous. Our anger is justified.”
Democratic Missouri State Senator Maria Chappelle-Nadal he said she hoped Trump was assassinated. She held this position until the end of her term, i.e. for another year. If Trump can be impeached, many others should be removed as well.
Twitter permanently banned Trump responded to the accusations, citing “the risk of further incitement of violence.” This is strange considering how many thousands of people Twitter has allowed to remain on the platform despite threats of violence. Twitter allowed rioters last summer to discuss where to attack and where to find good loot. Nothing happened to Omar because of her tweet; it’s still there, even without warning.
Verified Twitter users were allowed a year ago he threatened violence against conservative high school students.
The left is much more guilty of inciting violence than the president, but they have the MSM behind them, which focuses all their attention on Trump, and huge tech behind them to punish both the president and the right. Big tech is now using the Capitol breach to accelerate its purge of conservatives, attacking us on many levels, including at the core of the Internet, which I’ll discuss how to fight next week.
