Former FBI director, Robert Muller, has been appointed as a Special Prosecutor in the Trump/Russia matter. He will have plenary power to investigate and prosecute "any crimes" he uncovers during the course of his investigation. Initially, he is called upon to determine whether President Trump and/or any member of his campaign colluded with Russian agents to steal the election from Hillary Clinton. There are only five realistic outcomes to this investigation: (1) Trump and his agents colluded with Russia to steal the election; (2) Trump agents colluded with Russia to steal the election without his knowledge; (3) Trump did not collude with Russia; (4) Trump agents did not collude with Russia; (5) neither Trump nor his agents colluded with Russia.
If you believe that Trump, and/or his agents with his knowledge, colluded with Russia to steal the election then you must also conclude that he should be impeached, removed from office, charged with treason, and convicted for the greatest crime against our Republic in its history. Treason is a capital crime subjecting the perpetrator to capital punishment.
Moreover, if you believe that Trump's election was illegitimate, then Mike Pence cannot serve as President after Trump's impeachment. His entire administration is illegitimate, including the Vice President. Speaker Ryan would be elevated to the Presidency, until of course, his ties to the Trump Presidency are also attacked.
Since the day the American people elected Donald Trump, Democrats have accused him and his campaign of the greatest crime in our history. They have relentlessly accused his administration of, literally, working with a foreign nation to subvert our democratic process. If true, he is a totalitarian criminal without any legitimate authority to govern any American. Democrats in Washington have convinced their constituents that this is true, and that it is their patriotic duty to "resist."
Resistance, however, is a dangerous call to action, capable of many different interpretations. For example, when a man without any license or authority to do so, comes to your house to collect money from you, or take your government benefits away, or instruct you to do something against your will, your are legitimately entitled to defend your home, your family and your property. This is a fundamental right, enshrined in our Consitution, and is the founding principle of our nation. This resistance is valid and, in fact, is your patriotic duty in the face of the usurpation of power.
It is not surprising, therefore, that some deranged members of the Resistance may feel it to be their patriotic duty to attack and kill members of Congress who they believe have helped Donald Trump collude with Russia. When you make a call to action to "resist," when you say that Republicans should be "lined up and shot," when you convince others that Donald Trump is the Great Usurper, you are, absolutely, responsible for those who follow your call.
You may think that you are not calling for violence, but the very nature of the charge against Trump, treason, can legally result in a violent end for the President. The charge of treason is inherently violent. It is the highest crime against the people. Many people in the history of our nation have been executed for treason. You cannot divorce the potential punishment for the crime from the crime itself, particularly in the minds of the deranged.
This is the treason game. It is the highest stakes political game played since Andrew Johnson, and someone will lose badly.
If Trump or his agents are not guilty of treason, and you nevertheless continue to perpetuate a false narrative, then you are using the most dangerous lie in the history of our Republic to settle your political differences with the opposition. You are a McCarthyite, rebooting one of the worst chapters in American history. A time when merely voicing sympathy towards Russia or Russians subjected you to black lists, investigation, and prosecution. Joe McCarthy and the members of his House UnAmerican Activities Committee were among the most vicious Charlatans in history. Any return to McCarthyism is unacceptable.
Moreover, if you believe that Trump's election was illegitimate, then Mike Pence cannot serve as President after Trump's impeachment. His entire administration is illegitimate, including the Vice President. Speaker Ryan would be elevated to the Presidency, until of course, his ties to the Trump Presidency are also attacked.
Since the day the American people elected Donald Trump, Democrats have accused him and his campaign of the greatest crime in our history. They have relentlessly accused his administration of, literally, working with a foreign nation to subvert our democratic process. If true, he is a totalitarian criminal without any legitimate authority to govern any American. Democrats in Washington have convinced their constituents that this is true, and that it is their patriotic duty to "resist."
Resistance, however, is a dangerous call to action, capable of many different interpretations. For example, when a man without any license or authority to do so, comes to your house to collect money from you, or take your government benefits away, or instruct you to do something against your will, your are legitimately entitled to defend your home, your family and your property. This is a fundamental right, enshrined in our Consitution, and is the founding principle of our nation. This resistance is valid and, in fact, is your patriotic duty in the face of the usurpation of power.
It is not surprising, therefore, that some deranged members of the Resistance may feel it to be their patriotic duty to attack and kill members of Congress who they believe have helped Donald Trump collude with Russia. When you make a call to action to "resist," when you say that Republicans should be "lined up and shot," when you convince others that Donald Trump is the Great Usurper, you are, absolutely, responsible for those who follow your call.
You may think that you are not calling for violence, but the very nature of the charge against Trump, treason, can legally result in a violent end for the President. The charge of treason is inherently violent. It is the highest crime against the people. Many people in the history of our nation have been executed for treason. You cannot divorce the potential punishment for the crime from the crime itself, particularly in the minds of the deranged.
This is the treason game. It is the highest stakes political game played since Andrew Johnson, and someone will lose badly.
If Trump or his agents are not guilty of treason, and you nevertheless continue to perpetuate a false narrative, then you are using the most dangerous lie in the history of our Republic to settle your political differences with the opposition. You are a McCarthyite, rebooting one of the worst chapters in American history. A time when merely voicing sympathy towards Russia or Russians subjected you to black lists, investigation, and prosecution. Joe McCarthy and the members of his House UnAmerican Activities Committee were among the most vicious Charlatans in history. Any return to McCarthyism is unacceptable.
Alan Dershowitz, perhaps the foremost authority on civil liberties sees the current investigation into Trump's alleged "ties" to Russia as one the greatest threats to our Constitution since McCarthy. Mr. Dershowitz is not someone with whom I frequently agree, but he is a man who has the courage of his convictions and has relentlessly pursued civil rights throughout his career. He is also widely considered to be one of the best lawyers in the world. If you have not read his last three articles on this investigation, you should. Of the many strong points he makes, one stands out in particular. Stalin once quipped: "If you show me the man, I will show you the crime." Totalitarianism, at its core, is the weaponization of the law for political power. Mr. Dershowitz recognizes that, in our own nation, we have become so overwhelmed with laws, that any man can be found guilty of something at any time. The criminalization of political differences will irreversibly damage our nation.
Mr. Dershowitz would find an unlikely ally in Ayn Rand who wrote in Atlas Shrugged: "One declares so many things to be a crime that it becomes impossible for men to live without breaking laws ... just pass the kind of laws that can neither be observed nor enforced nor objectively interpreted - and you create a nation of lawbreakers - and then you cash in on guilt." Neither Director Muller, nor any Democrat, have publicly identified the law President Trump or his agents have allegedly broken. To be sure, they have many from which to choose. Instead, the Special Prosecutor has been tasked with investigating whether "any crime" has been committed. With each iteration of this investigation, the standards have become lower. When John Brennan was recently asked whether there was any evidence of treason, he responded that treason often starts off as unintentional. He could not be more wrong. Treason is intentional misconduct, but that was not his point. His point was to lower the bar even further. In his mind and the minds of many in Washington, this alleged "accidental treason" should be ferreted out.
But the Treason Game can go both ways. Those who have been leaking classified information to the media, and those in the media receiving and publishing that information may also be charged with treason. There is no First Amendment privilege to commit treason or publish classified information. There is no "whistleblower" exception in the law for leakers who are part of the "resistance," especially if Donald Trump did not, in fact, steal the election. If Trump and his agents are innocent, and he is nevertheless removed from office, then those responsible have engaged in a coup, also treason and also punishable by death.
This zero-sum game, if not soon ended, will lead to lawlessness. These tone-deaf members of the political establishment are shocked that Americans are so angry and are only now beginning to realize that their rhetoric is partly to blame. There will, unfortunately, be more violence. We crossed the Rubicon as a nation when Donald Trump was accused of treason. No outcome will be acceptable to either side. Angry, violent members of the Resistance will believe the Republicans stonewalled the investigation to cover for Trump if he is cleared. There is nothing Robert Muller will be able to say to put an end to the Russia narrative.
On the other hand, angry, violent Trump supporters will not accept what they see as a coup. Few if any Trump supporters will ever believe that the Russia investigation is anything but an unAmerican attempt to overturn the results of the election by a group of admitted "Never Trumpers." There is little middle ground.
The dominant political movement in the world right now is populism. Populism is not the cause of the problem, it is the result. Populism is what happens when the majority of any governed group becomes "fed up" with the governing class. When the governing class "resists," populist movements become revolutions. Historically, revolutions begin as populist movements, and they always lead to the violent end of the governing regime, or the deaths of the revolutionaries. Revolutions are violent.
One would hope that yesterday's politically motivated shootings of Congressional Republicans would give us all a moment of pause. It will not. The Treason Game has already resumed with yet another illegal DOJ leak claiming that the President is "under investigation" for obstruction of justice. That will be enough for some members of the Resistance to engage in further violence against those with whom they disagree. And violence begets more violence. It is only a matter of time before those radicals on the right fight back. Then the cycle of violence is established and someone will win and someone will lose. America, however, will be unrecognizable.
There is not one person with whom I associate, on either side of the political spectrum, that is not praying for the recovery of those injured by a deranged member of the left. I would ask that we all pray for our nation. We are truly at a crossroads where our exceptional nation is in peril. Whatever the outcome of these investigations, I hope that we can all move forward, keeping in mind Abraham Lincoln's directive at the end of the Civil War: "With malice towards none, with charity for all..."
But the Treason Game can go both ways. Those who have been leaking classified information to the media, and those in the media receiving and publishing that information may also be charged with treason. There is no First Amendment privilege to commit treason or publish classified information. There is no "whistleblower" exception in the law for leakers who are part of the "resistance," especially if Donald Trump did not, in fact, steal the election. If Trump and his agents are innocent, and he is nevertheless removed from office, then those responsible have engaged in a coup, also treason and also punishable by death.
This zero-sum game, if not soon ended, will lead to lawlessness. These tone-deaf members of the political establishment are shocked that Americans are so angry and are only now beginning to realize that their rhetoric is partly to blame. There will, unfortunately, be more violence. We crossed the Rubicon as a nation when Donald Trump was accused of treason. No outcome will be acceptable to either side. Angry, violent members of the Resistance will believe the Republicans stonewalled the investigation to cover for Trump if he is cleared. There is nothing Robert Muller will be able to say to put an end to the Russia narrative.
On the other hand, angry, violent Trump supporters will not accept what they see as a coup. Few if any Trump supporters will ever believe that the Russia investigation is anything but an unAmerican attempt to overturn the results of the election by a group of admitted "Never Trumpers." There is little middle ground.
The dominant political movement in the world right now is populism. Populism is not the cause of the problem, it is the result. Populism is what happens when the majority of any governed group becomes "fed up" with the governing class. When the governing class "resists," populist movements become revolutions. Historically, revolutions begin as populist movements, and they always lead to the violent end of the governing regime, or the deaths of the revolutionaries. Revolutions are violent.
One would hope that yesterday's politically motivated shootings of Congressional Republicans would give us all a moment of pause. It will not. The Treason Game has already resumed with yet another illegal DOJ leak claiming that the President is "under investigation" for obstruction of justice. That will be enough for some members of the Resistance to engage in further violence against those with whom they disagree. And violence begets more violence. It is only a matter of time before those radicals on the right fight back. Then the cycle of violence is established and someone will win and someone will lose. America, however, will be unrecognizable.
There is not one person with whom I associate, on either side of the political spectrum, that is not praying for the recovery of those injured by a deranged member of the left. I would ask that we all pray for our nation. We are truly at a crossroads where our exceptional nation is in peril. Whatever the outcome of these investigations, I hope that we can all move forward, keeping in mind Abraham Lincoln's directive at the end of the Civil War: "With malice towards none, with charity for all..."
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