Does he go up to 11?
2 Likes
It is usually called “treason” or “treasonous behavior”.
*Definition of treason
1 : the offense of attempting by overt acts to overthrow the government of the state to which the offender owes allegiance or to kill or personally injure the sovereign or the sovereign’s family
2 : the betrayal of a trust : treachery
*https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/treason
Seems pretty straight forward to me, through his actions (or not acting) and his stated goals of overthrowing or destroying the “deep state” (BS), he has shown both intent and deed.
5 Likes
It’s not an umlaut.
It’s a diaeresis.
The difference is that an umlaut is a German thing that alters the pronunciation of a vowel (Brünnhilde), and often changes the meaning of a word: schon (adv.), already; schön (adj.), beautiful. In the case of a diphthong, the umlaut goes over the first vowel. And it is crucial. A diaeresis goes over the second vowel and indicates that it forms a separate syllable. Most of the English-speaking world finds the diaeresis inessential. Even Fowler, of Fowler’s “Modern English Usage,” says that the diaeresis “is in English an obsolescent symbol.”
3 Likes
Gonna quote myself here:
3 Likes
From your own source -
“Whoever, owing allegiance to the United States, levies war against them or adheres to their enemies, giving them aid and comfort within the United States or elsewhere, is guilty of treason and shall suffer death, or shall be imprisoned not less than five years and fined under this title but not less than $10,000; and shall be incapable of holding any office under the United States.”
See the big “or” in the sentence?
The question we have to ask ourselves is whether the restrictive nature of the treason clause narrows the scope of impeachable offenses: “The President, Vice President and all civil Officers of the United States, shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors.”
i.e. Donald Trumps offenses would have to fall in one of three categories–
Treason
Bribery
Other
it looks like treason-- so bribery and other are OFF the table. But it’s not really treason, so he gets away with it.
Still doesn’t address the requirement of War–which is my point here. Not cyberattacks. I’m in agreement we should treat them more like incursions on sovereign soil.
But we don’t. So legally, we’re not at war, and there’s no shortage of lawyers that suggest that tossing around the term “Treason” doesn’t pass the sniff test.
2 Likes
Thank heavens for the Russians. Bless you St. Vlad.
1 Like
Actually, yes. That was exactly what it seemed like at the time and it was perfectly in character for Trump.
3 Likes
I suspect they’ll claim it doesn’t matter, and what’s the big deal?
2 Likes
If it’s not really treason, as defined in the US constitution, then it goes under “Other”.
And, again, impeachment is ultimately a political decision, not a criminal one. If the congress gets sick enough of Trump, they can claim his hairstyle is a “high Crime or Misdemeanor” and impeach him for that.
4 Likes
Personally, I wouldn’t mind it all laid out. The House can then make the political decision to ignore it, and (hopefully) suffer the consequences.
2 Likes
I respectfully disagree. I don’t think there’s anything he could ever do that would convince the 30% or so who are his hard-core supporters. They would simply refuse to believe anything that bad-“fake news”, you see. Fortunately, there’s a significant majority of the country which sees what’s going on, and if the Dems run a reasonable candidate in 2020, he will lose by a landslide. Look at what’s happening in special elections since 2016.
7 Likes
gotta love that lede.
The special tool we use here at The New Yorker for punching out the two dots that we then center carefully over the second vowel in such words as “naïve” and “Laocoön” will be getting a workout this year, as the Democrats coöperate to reëlect the President.
1 Like
As long as they keep getting things like tax reform, deregulation, and destruction of the federal government, why would they care?
2 Likes
Put at the top of that list “condemning and throwing out non-rich non-whites”, and you’ll have a more complete set of reasons Trump’s followers still like him.
Moose is on job too
If Trump said “I’m not gonna build a wall–it’s a stupid idea”, you can be sure impeachment proceedings would be a lot more likely. Add to that, “I’m gonna stop throwing out of the country all the non-rich, non-white immigrants, go back to normal immigration policy, and insist that Congress pass reasonable gun regulation”, and Trump’s impeachment would be guaranteed. Trump followers do have a few red lines.
I doubt it. I think Trump could easily spin anything to his followers who are ready to believe literally anything.
I think his “It’s okay to fight the NRA now and then” went down fine with his supporters. If he doesn’t want a wall anymore, he can just bullshit with truth instead of bullshitting with falsehood: “Did you know that after the first year of my presidency net migration with Mexico was negative? That means that more people went back to Mexico than came in! [cheers] Not many people know that. Those illegal immigrants, they’re leaving, they’re leaving. [cheers] I don’t want to put up a wall to keep them in! [crowd laughs] You get it.”
Trumps hardcore supporters are authoritarian followers, every last one of them. What they care about is that they feel their leader is tough enough to keep them safe. How he does that is up to him, otherwise what would be the point in an authoritarian leader?
2 Likes
