Thursday, December 3, 2020

Sedition -- Where is the Prosecution?

I wrote before about “sedition” and cited an article by Stan Wilenz at the Rolling Stone. The question remains, is anyone initiating legal action against Trump and his followers for undermining the nation?


As Trump and his disciples often do, they accuse others of sedition.

Trump Health Aide Pushes Bizarre Conspiracies and Warns of Armed Revolt

Michael R. Caputo told a Facebook audience without evidence that left-wing hit squads were being trained for insurrection and accused C.D.C. scientists of “sedition.”


That in itself must be included as a seditious action.

Back in September, AG Barr told prosecutors to consider protestors as being seditious.

Barr Told Prosecutors to Consider Sedition Charges for Protest Violence

Attorney General William P. Barr was also said to have asked prosecutors to explore whether to bring charges against the mayor of Seattle for allowing a police-free protest zone.”

The New York Times

So far, I see no one putting the case together. That is disappointing


“Trump’s racist rhetoric and shout-outs to white nationalists have cleaved the nation in two, driving political polarization with an intensity not seen since the Civil War. 


His explicit encouragement of violence and armed demonstrations has menaced the rule of law. 


His brazen attempt to shake down the president of Ukraine (“Do us a favor, though”), in order to manufacture dirt against his chief political opponent — the event that triggered Trump’s impeachment — almost surely would have led to his removal from office but for the cynicism, cowardice, and partisanship of the Senate Republican majority. 


His amply documented obstruction of justice in connection with the Russia investigation — 10 offenses, according to the Mueller report; the corruption of his office to enrich himself and his family in violation of the Constitution’s emoluments clause; his purposeful sabotage of the First Amendment by demonizing the free press as enemies of the people — all this and more add up to not just the worst performance of any American president, but the most subversive conduct since Jefferson Davis, who was not a president of the United States.


Trump’s subversion is an immediate existential crisis for American democracy, the worst since the Civil War. 


He has deliberately tried to discredit and delegitimize democracy itself. 


By repeatedly trashing the upcoming election as rigged and corrupt, raising baseless wild charges about voting by mail, Trump has poisoned the political wells. 


By instructing the neo-fascist and anti-Semitic Proud Boys to “stand back” and “stand by,” and instructing his goon squads to descend on the polls to intimidate voters, he has openly called for disrupting the election. 


By refusing to pledge to a peaceful transition of power should he lose the election, Trump has revealed his plan for a coup d’etat, with the connivance and unswerving support of the Republican Party.”


“The Sedition of Donald Trump”

Historian Sean Wilentz says the president and his chief accomplice Attorney General Bill Barr’s subversions of democracy have taken America to the very brink

By SEAN WILENTZ 



Image Credit: The Intercept