A Liberal Dose, January 4, 2023 "Three Years Ago This Week: Was It an Insurrection?"

 

A Liberal Dose

January 4, 2024

Troy D. Smith

“Three Years Ago This Week: Was It an Insurrection?”

 

 

Since last week, Maine has joined Colorado in ruling that the 14^th Amendment bars Trump from running for public office. As I wrote last week, the amendment is clear -the only question is, did Trump participate in an insurrection? His defenders (and quasi-defenders) keep pointing out that he has not been convicted of anything, and that is true -he is, in fact, about to go on trial. The problem is, if he gets elected president before those trials conclude, he can simply order the government to drop all charges and then that question will be moot. This is why the 14^th Amendment was proposed and ratified -the knowledge that someone who has clearly shown a past willingness to violate their oath to the Constitution might still be popular enough to get elected, and that is a threat to the republic. Trump has clearly shown what he is capable of, and is still flat-out telling us what he plans to do if he gets another shot at it. It’s going to be interesting to see what the Supreme Court rules, because I honestly believe it could go either way. Whatever they decide regarding the ballot issue will be the final word on that question, and I will accept it whether I agree with it or not. However, I continue to believe that it is my duty (and my right), and that of anyone who is paying attention, to keep sounding the alarm in hopes of getting through to some voters who might be on the fence or not paying attention.

Let’s look, once more, at what we have learned via the many investigations so far. Trump’s defenders continue to deny that January 6 was an insurrection, saying it was just a bunch of protesters who got carried away and who had no real ability to overthrow the government. That is not the complete truth, and it is not the point. We now have plenty of evidence that, although most of the participants were unaware of it, the event itself was planned and coordinated ahead of time. The goal was to prevent the certification, by Congress, of the electoral votes by the end of that day, as the Constitution requires. The accusation is that Trump not only planned the riot and stirred it up, but that he made no effort to stop it once it was underway, in hopes of stopping that certification -and that he and others had illegally conspired to set up fake electors to be used instead. That is insurrection.

I now want to address something that I have debated bringing up. I never thought I would see the day that my friend John Gottlied would impugn my integrity, attack my character, and literally call me a liar. Tying his assertions to a statement about me teaching young people is wildly irresponsible, because I think we all realize in our current environment there are people who might use that to threaten my job or even my physical safety. He was so confident in his statements it almost made me doubt myself, so I went back and re-read my own column that he was responding to.

In that column I listed off all the things Trump has been charged with, accused of, and/or found liable for. Whether you believe the evidence backs that up or not, it is a cold, hard fact that he HAS been charged, accused, and/or found liable for those things, which is exactly what I said. I then pointed out that, in the past, the mere accusation of such things would end someone’s political aspirations. There is not one untrue or misleading statement there. John concluded by saying (of himself) “I might disagree with other’s opinions but never intentionally mislead or insult.”

I invite you to re-read what I actually said and then his (extremely insulting) response. And then, by all means, do think for yourself.

--Troy D. Smith, a White County native, is a novelist and a history professor at Tennessee Tech and serves on the executive committee of the Tennessee Democratic Party. His words do not necessarily represent TTU.

 

Buy the book A Liberal Dose: Communiques from the Holler by Troy D. Smith HERE

You can find all previous entries in this weekly column HERE

A list of other historical essays that have appeared on this blog can be found HERE

Author's website: www.troyduanesmith.com

The author's historical lectures on youtube can be found HERE

 

A Liberal Dose, June 16, 2022 "Someone Tried to Steal the Election, All Right"

 

A Liberal Dose

June 16, 2022

Troy D. Smith

“Someone Tried to Steal the Election, All Right”

 

One week ago (June 9), the House select committee investigating January 6, 2021 had its first live televised hearing. More than twenty million Americans tuned in (more than to the NBA finals), and that doesn’t count the ones who dvr’d it or have watched it on youtube or other websites. The three networks and all major TV news outlets broadcast it live.

Well, almost all.

Fox did not show it. Lest one think they didn’t believe their audience would be interested, note that they did not have any commercials during the Tucker Carlson show, on during the first hour of the hearing (not even from the pillow guy). In other words, Fox News willingly gave up millions of dollars to make sure their watchers did not wander off during commercials and accidentally see something true. Side note: many studies have shown that people who get their news only from Fox are less informed about what is really happening than people who watch no news at all.

I hope all of you watched it, or found a way to go back and watch it later. There was (and will continue to be) testimony from countless witnesses, including quite a few from the Trump administration. Much of it is on film, and in many cases in official documents, plus many people will be testifying live. In other words, it is not a conspiracy theory or “fake news.”

It is as real as the blight on our national reputation it documents.

Here is what we know as FACT:

Donald Trump insisted he won the election, despite the fact most of his people told him he had lost. He continued to deny the outcome, spreading inaccurate information and outrageous theories as his “proof.” His efforts to overturn election results were thrown out by over sixty judges (many of them appointed by Trump himself). His Attorney General, William Barr, was only one of several advisers who told Trump that the claims had no merit and lacked any evidence that voter fraud significant enough to “steal” the election had occurred. Barr called the claims “complete nonsense,” as well as a coarser term that starts with the word “bull.” Ivanka Trump testified that she believed Barr. Barr testified that he resigned because Trump was trying to make him pursue baseless voter fraud claims in an attempt to overturn a constitutional election.

Trump next claimed that the vice president has the authority to throw out electors from any given state by claiming voter fraud, and instead swear in alternate Republican electors from that state. Pence does not have that authority, and there is no legal basis for substituting electors to nullify the will of the people in a given state. Vice President Pence verified he did not have the constitutional authority to do this, yet Trump continued to pressure him to do so. A federal judge has said Trump broke at least two federal laws just in his efforts to corruptly coerce Pence into overturning the election. Meanwhile, Trump pressured governments of states where Biden won to withdraw their fairly chosen electors and/or to back up his unsubstantiated voter claims. He may face charges in Georgia for trying to browbeat that state’s Republican government to “find  him just enough votes to win.” I say face charges, because that is voter fraud.

Trump and some of his inner circle, including Rudy Giuliani, began speaking on the possibility of declaring martial law and having the military seize voting machines and supervise a new election. America condemns this when other countries do it, and rightly so. It is against the principles of democracy. Russia is one of those other countries, by the way.

Man, I’ve barely covered the first point.

I am going to continue, over the next weeks, to summarize every main point of these hearings. It is a litany of shame, dishonor, corruption, and treason.

And it is well-documented.

 

--Troy D. Smith, a White County native, is a novelist and a history professor at Tennessee Tech. His words do not necessarily represent TTU.

You can find all previous entries in this weekly column HERE

A list of other historical essays that have appeared on this blog can be found HERE

Author's website: www.troyduanesmith.com

The author's historical lectures on youtube can be found HERE