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Trump defiantly vows to discuss Jan. 6 case if slapped with a gag order [1]
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Date: 2023-08-08
Please… PLEASE lock him up!
From Raw Story
While speaking to a crowd of supporters in Windham, New Hampshire, Trump complained about Smith's request for a protective order. The order could prevent Trump from publicly targeting figures involved in the case. <snip> "I will talk about it. I will. They're not taking away my First Amendment."
I get that we are in uncharted territory. There is a First Amendment question that makes things a little tricky…. BUT, the law is the law!
If a mob boss (which is exactly what Trump is) were to hold a public rally talking about a judge or threatening witnesses or the prosecutors, that mob boss would be locked up in very short order (if they were even allowed to roam free before the trial in the first place).
All things being equal, if we need to make a decision between the First Amendment vs. standard legal precedence and one or the other has to take a back seat in this case, I think the judge should follow standing legal precedence because no one, not even a former (or current for that matter) POTUS is above the law.
Additionally, and maybe just as important....
The thing people keep missing about Trump is that every time someone gives him some sort of preferential treatment because of his status, it always comes back to haunt them.
Had the DOJ successfully pushed for Trump to be arrested and held while waiting for his trial in the J6th case, he wouldn’t be out making claims about his First Amendment rights at his hate rallies. SURE, the judge could have denied the request but you fail to hit every ball you don't swing at and I don’t think this judge in DC is the type to play softball either. And SURE, his protectors in the GOP would have still brought it up but to the MAGA hoards, nothing counts as much as Trump’s golden words.
Now Trump is using exactly these words about his First Amendment rights in his rallies and it's going to become the fight song for the faithful forever and ever.
So in an effort to downplay Trump’s damage to our system, the DOJ actually allowed Trump to walk free to create MORE DAMAGE TO OUR SYSTEM.
Again, I fully understand that there are First Amendment issues here, but the justice system needs to wake up to the fact that handling Trump gently like a live grenade isn’t going to stop him from blowing up our democracy. Instead, they have to assume the grenade will go off no matter what and the best option is to build a solid wall around it before it detonates.
PLEASE, get this lunatic off the street.
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https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/8/8/2186041/-Trump-defiantly-vows-to-discuss-Jan-6-case-if-slapped-with-a-gag-order
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