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Trump's Sedition

Kathy Werner - Columnist
Posted 1/7/21

“Seditious Conspiracy: If two or more persons in any State or Territory… conspire to overthrow, put down, or to destroy by force the Government of the United States, or to levy war against them, …

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Trump's Sedition

Posted

“Seditious Conspiracy: If two or more persons in any State or Territory… conspire to overthrow, put down, or to destroy by force the Government of the United States, or to levy war against them, or to oppose by force the authority thereof, or by force to prevent, hinder, or delay the execution of any law of the United States, or by force to seize, take, or possess any property of the United States contrary to the authority thereof, they shall each be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than twenty years, or both. (law.cornell.edu)

What happened on Wednesday at the U.S. Capitol was a shocking, disgraceful act of sedition incited by none other than Donald J. Trump.

The mob who desecrated the halls of Congress rampaged through offices and forced our lawmakers to cower in fear. These criminals carried weapons, cameras, and flags promoting Trump, the Confederacy and various right-wing groups.

And yet. And yet, the horrendous events of January 6, 2021, were entirely predictable. In fact, we should have expected nothing less, and we can expect it to get even worse.

In this space I have written that Trump would try to destroy as much as he could on his way out of the White House. Not that you had to be a wizard to figure that one out.

This was a page out of every would-be autocrat's playbook. I think the creation and monetization of the “stolen election” is all of a piece with Trump's stoking the flames of hatred toward the “other.”

Most alarming now is the unlimited and virtually unregulated ability of social media to serve as a firehose of disinformation that keeps these insurrectionists at high alert and allows them to organize attacks such as the one that played out at our nation's Capitol.

Christopher Wylie, the Cambridge Analytica whistleblower, tweeted yesterday: “These people were all radicalized on Facebook. This event was organized on Facebook. This violence is an inevitable manifestation of the conspiracy, vitriol, and hate fed to people daily on Facebook.”

And this is part of the long grift that the Trump administration has become. In fact, during the siege of the Capitol, both Ted Cruz and Josh Hawley, two Senators who were challenging the electoral vote, were sending out fund-raising messages to their followers. Let that sink in.

This entire Trump operation since he lost the election has been one final grift, a way to raise money for himself. And the people promoting it with him (Cruz, et. al.) are looking to monetize these bogus conspiracy theories for their own political and financial gain.

Trump and his minions are willing to destroy American institutions, American ideals, and the American people in this ignoble quest.

January 6, 2021. Another day that will live in infamy.

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