(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . The First Amendment allows no such thing [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.'] Date: 2023-08-08 Why does Donald Trump want to reserve the right to lie? That is what he is doing by couching his “defense” against Jack Smith’s January 6 charges, saying he had a “First Amendment” right to do so, to claim things even if he knew they were false. He knows we take the First Amendment, much as many Americans did and do the Second, as sacred. By hitching his defense to such a dear principle and right, he hopes we will back off our demand that he be held accountable for his crimes. He hopes our regard for the First Amendment will be raised and then transferred to him in his goal to escape accountability. To what end? We must ask this explicitly and not let the inquiry drop at the mere mention of the right to free expression. Why does Trump want the lie? What would the lie have gotten him other than our entire system of government—self-governance—our nation and its resources? What else would it have gotten him but the entire ball of wax? He wants the whole thing. And he’s hoping we’re so blinded by the splendor of the First Amendment that we, like Moses at the burning bush, will shield our eyes from this clear vision, this unmistakable fact. Just as the ends of the Second Amendment are implied and never spoken—“I reserve the right to own a gun so I can shoot people”—the ends of Donald Trump’s argument must be spoken in order to be understood: he wants the right to lie so that he can connive us out of our country. He wants us to hand it over to him, no matter the truth or falsity of his claims. With such a boundless definition of free expression, he could put words to work toward any aim, including lying us into a war, lying us even into a civil war. He’s claiming the right. He is claiming the right to be a pied piper, the right to lead us to perdition. He is claiming the right to lie in order to claim the Oval Office. This is an unacceptable abuse of the First Amendment. This is not merely a moral defect: it is an ambush, a hijacking by verbal means. It is a conman’s florid fantasy. Is it possible he saw it as a bloodless coup? In fact, without bloodshed, would it even be considered a coup? The presidency would be a prize to be won, handed over like a check pre-endorsed. Trump did everything wrong. But now he expects us—is doing his level best to convince us—to forgive him because his weapons were words, falsehoods meant to hoodwink and trick. To what end? Trump is saying the First Amendment affords him the right to inveigle us, to swindle the country from us. That’s not what the First Amendment is for. Certainly fraud and theft are not legitimate forms of expression. Yet Trump wants people to believe that fraud could bring about legitimate government. It cannot; it can only end legitimate government. Thus we cannot accept this defense. The Constitution is not a suicide pact, and neither is our country a blank check handed over to a conman, especially to one so second-rate. [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/8/8/2185986/-The-First-Amendment-allows-no-such-thing Published and (C) by Daily Kos Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/