Trump and the First Amendment

It came as no surprise to me that ex-president Trump was indicted yesterday on charges related to January 6th. While not a constitutional scholar, or lawyer, or election rules expert, it seemed obvious to me that Trump worked tirelessly to overturn the 2020 presidential election through various methods. From lies about massive mail and election machine fraud, to exhorting a number of state legislatures to create "alternative" electors, to pressuring Vice President Pence to ignore the will of the people and disregard the election results, to encouraging an attack on the Capital then sitting idly by while rioters beat police officers, broke windows, and vandalized the building where our laws are created, Donald Trump, in plain sight, became the first president in our history to subvert the peaceful transition of power, and did so with no concern about America, our democracy, or our constitution. All because he is so insecure that he can't accept that he lost.

As I said, no surprise, other than it took over two years to get here. What did surprise me is that Trump's lawyers are talking First Amendment protections as his defense.

I have posted a few times under the banner of the First Amendment, so I searched my blog and read four of them before beginning this entry.

The first one listed was from just last year, in January. Within this post are references to the other three I just read, but I decided to provide a separate link for each anyway. The second is from August 2018, and the last two are from 2010. I thought it interesting to read my thoughts on the subject from 2010, to see if there was consistency in my perceptions as compared to the 2018 and 2021 posts, and as compared to my current position today. Feel free to check them out. You might be surprised at whose first amendment rights I defended. 

https://wurdsfromtheburbs.blogspot.com/2021/01/freedom-of-speech.html

https://wurdsfromtheburbs.blogspot.com/2018/08/opinions-lies-and-responsible-speech.html

https://wurdsfromtheburbs.blogspot.com/2010/09/testing-strength-of-our-freedom.html

https://wurdsfromtheburbs.blogspot.com/2010/03/hateful-speech.html

As for Trump's defense, that everything he said about the election, everything he did to subvert the will of the people, everything he and his minions offered as justification for his return to the White House, well, as I always tell my wife, there is always a grain of truth in every statement.

While in this case, the grain is microscopic, able to be seen only with an electron microscope, I agree that Trump has the first amendment right to tell all his followers that he won the 2020 election, and therefore all the machinations engaged in are the result of that opinion. Unfortunately, only an idiot would believe such drivel, and as Trump himself often says, he is the smartest person in the room at any given time.

If we assume that intelligence, of which he is chock full, is generally based on facts and an accumulation of knowledge, then after close to 60 judicial decisions against the various lawsuits filed by his carousel of lawyers, denials of election fraud from a host of GOP state election officials, his own federal election administration and Bill Barr, his hand picked attorney general, someone as smart as Donald Trump knows full well he lost the 2020 presidential election.

But denial is a powerful thing, especially when your self image is as damaged as Trump's. So, rather than listening to his staff and white house lawyers who told him there was no fraud, he sought out those who would tell him what he wanted to hear, even if it meant making up wild conspiracies about Chinese bamboo, dead South American dictators, and any other crazy scenario that justified him staying in office.

If Donald Trump knew he lost but tried to find a way to remain president, he is guilty of all the charges filed, and then some. If he truly believes that he lost due to massive fraud, then he is delusional, and should certainly not be elected to any future public office.

As for his first amendment rights to say whatever he wants, regardless of the veracity of his statements, as long as he believes them to be true, well, I for one think that the president of the United States should be able to distinguish what he wants to be true from what is actually true. 

But even more importantly, the president should be even more concerned about presenting the truth, based on facts, than any other person, because, as the leader of the nation, his words matter. He should be more responsible with his opinions, more discerning with repeating beliefs that are unproven, more cognizant of the fact that his statements are read by millions, tens of millions, which means they have even more impact and effect than most any other person's.

He should be more responsible with his words, yet Trump thinks it is in merely the simple act of utterance that he gains power and influence, regardless of facts. 

In essence, Donald Trump has subverted one of our most precious rights, the right to free speech, to mean that he can say whatever he wants because he was the president, as if that title makes his words more true.

The ongoing debates about the extent that the freedom of speech allows is an important one. But like everything else he effects, Trump has now lowered the bar in this debate to how many lies can be told, how far from the truth a statement can be, and how free a president (because remember, if you or I were accused of his crimes, there would be no debate), can be with his words, regardless of how much truth those words reflect.

The really sad thing, is that when an ordinary person says something about Trump, the truth of the statement, is never the issue. If Trump doesn't like the opinion, it needs to be suppressed. He doesn't give a whit about the real issues of the first amendment, he only cares about what he can get away with without any consequences. 

I am not necessarily all in for Trump to be dressed in orange in the near future. At this point, I feel sorry for him, and for all those who continue to kiss his ring, too far down the rabbit hole to find their way back to reality. 

I would prefer that he be pardoned (once convicted), allowed to renounce his American citizenship, and granted to right to emigrate to Russia or Hungary or Belarus with no return possible, where he can hobnob with people like him who crave power. Where the opinions of only the guy in charge matter, and first amendment rights (or any rights) are for the autocrat to decide. 

In a previous post I said that only in death would Trump be held accountable. 

https://wurdsfromtheburbs.blogspot.com/2023/04/accountability-finally.html

While I still believe that, I would settle for him leaving America forever, to become someone else's national problem. In the meantime, we can only hope that enough MAGA republicans actually read the latest indictment, and realize that it is time to jettison their once and future king and return to at least a semblance of democracy.