And you thought there was no evidence that Trump is guilty of a capital crime. Or should I say, CAPITAL CRIME?

Donald J. Trump

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To Iranian President Rouhani: NEVER, EVER THREATEN THE UNITED STATES AGAIN OR YOU WILL SUFFER CONSEQUENCES THE LIKES OF WHICH FEW THROUGHOUT HISTORY HAVE EVER SUFFERED BEFORE. WE ARE NO LONGER A COUNTRY THAT WILL STAND FOR YOUR DEMENTED WORDS OF VIOLENCE & DEATH. BE CAUTIOUS!

8:24 PM - 22 Jul 2018

Really? A capital crime?

I’m talking, of course, about treason. 

The law is quite clear on this point. Giving aid and comfort to the enemies of the United States is treasonous and is punishable by death. To quote the pertinent U.S. Code:

Whoever, owing allegiance to the United States, levies war against them or adheres to their enemies, giving them aid and comfort within the United States or elsewhere, is guilty of treason and shall suffer death, or shall be imprisoned not less than five years and fined under this title but not less than $10,000; and shall be incapable of holding any office under the United States.(June 25, 1948, ch. 645, 62 Stat. 807; Pub. L. 103–322, title XXXIII, § 330016(2)(J), Sept. 13, 1994, 108 Stat. 2148.)

And how has Donald Trump given aid and comfort to the enemies of the United States? Let me count the ways.

Well, come to think of it, there may be too many ways to count. Besides, just a trio of highlights ought to do it.

• He has adhered to and in fact embraced Vladimir Putin, a former KGB (Russian and before that Soviet secret police) agent, who was President and now is Prime Minister of Russia and who is almost certainly behind one or more, or perhaps numerous “hacks” of the last presidential election and perhaps other elections, thus subverting the democratic  practice upon which American democracy is founded.

• He has adhered to and in fact embraced  “Dear Leader” Kim Jon-Un, the kind of adorable dictator who has his own uncle, Jang Song-thaek executed, along with — why the hell not? — all Uncle Jang’s blood relatives. Dear Uncle was put to death by being shot with anti-aircraft weapons, the better to make bigger holes in his corpse, I suppose. But I’m straying from my very abbreviated bill of particulars.

• He has turned on our allies and insulted, denigrated and weakened an American alliance with Western Europe, thus weakening our national defenses and leaving us essentially on our own should Russia, or North Korea, or any other nation such as Iran turned against the United States and, for example, bomb our cities or our territories, block our shipping, counterfeit our currency, bring down our electrical grid, or evaporate the bank savings, pension credits and stock holdings of every single American via Internet hacking, to name just some of the possibilities.

Yes, there’s plenty more. Other particulars might range from subverting our system of justice to psychologically and perhaps physically caging and effectively torturing small children with loneliness, disgusting tasks such as cleaning toilet bowls, and inadequate food,  in what are effectively juvenile concentration camps — because their parents tried to come to the United States to escape persecution and tyranny. Feel free to add charges that you feel are indispensable.

Some Trump sycophants, profiteers, self-dealers, and evidently many haplessly deluded fools have claimed there is method to Trump’s madness, that it is all part of a clever plan to fool our enemies and thus, by some as-yet undisclosed means, to defeat them.

You bet, undisclosed. They’re undisclosed because there is no means. And I wouldn’t be surprised if Trump’s all-caps tweets are laying the groundwork for a not-guilty-by-insanity defense should Americans finally have the courage to arrest Trump and bring him and those who significantly aid and abet him to trial. 

What also needs to be said is that justice in this case should not stop at impeachment. 

Impeachment is only where it should begin.