Trump wants to be able to kill me and my friends

No seriously. That was his lawyers argument in New York.

Fifth Avenue is nothing

We all remember that Donald Trump claimed during the 2016 campaign that he could shoot someone in the middle of 5th Avenue and not lose a single vote. Tuesday in federal court Trump’s lawyers argued that the President should be immune to any crimes he commits while in office if he isn’t first impeached and convicted of those crimes.

Judge Florence Pan, a Biden appointee, presented the scenario to Trump attorney Dean Sauer that if a President ordered SEAL Team 6 to assassinate a political rival would he be subject to prosecution to which Sauer replied “No, unless they are impeached and convicted first.”

Wrap your head around that for a moment. They are arguing that a United States President could commit crimes in office and unless two thirds of the Senate decides it’s a crime he is immune to later prosecution.

The depth of the scenarios that flow from that are being hashed out by smarter people than me all over this platform and in the media like my friend Dennis Aftergut in this excellent read in the LA Times. Dennis discussed Trump’s overt threat of violence if the case is decided against him.

But the things a President could do are insane. He could commit crimes as long as 35 members of the Senate cover for him. He could simply resign and go on with his life or almost get a free pass as a lame duck office holder.

It’s personal to many of us

But, you see this issue isn’t an academic discussion for many of us. Those of us who ended up somehow on the front lines of the fight to stop Trump from holding a second term and continuing today to battle the MAGA movement are in the crosshairs. My friends Alex and Rachel Vindman have been targets of Trump’s anger and attacks for over four years. Imagine what this would mean to them should he return to office?

As many of you may know I have been targeted by disgraced former Lt. General and fired National Security Advisor Mike Flynn with a frivolous and ridiculous libel lawsuit over three tweets from nearly two years ago. (See our response to this ridiculous lawsuit). My first thought was “ah…I guess I am on the list officially too.”

This comes after having my personal information doxxed, pictures of my old home posted online to neo-Nazi forums, and attacks on my former organization literally mailed to every house in my zip code in Virginia.

This is personal to us.

Project 2025

Let’s layer in one key element that will make your head hurt even more: Project 2025. If you recall a major part of that effort that is currently underway is the recruiting of upwards of some 30,000 to 50,000 MAGA zealots to fill government positions. As I pointed out in a previous video and post, there are only about 4,000 political appointees in the federal government and another 8,000 or so in the Senior Executive Service that fill much of the management roles in our Executive Branch.

With a plan to use Schedule F to make thousands of federal jobs essentially ‘at will’ and a vetted list of tens of thousands of replacements it not far fetched to say a future Trump Administration will have its brown shirts at every level of the government. They will be then working for a President who believes he can commit a crime and unless 35 Senators decide to convict him he is essentially untouchable.

Imagine people like me who have opposed Trump or questioned the MAGA movement. Tax issues? Questions about your TV stations license? Have a lot of investments? Late filing that paperwork on your SEC reporting? All Trump has to do is tell his people to “find something” and they can throw you in jail or destroy your life with the wave of his greasy fingers.

This court argument makes him a king.

Won’t someone rid me of this meddlesome priest?

In 1170, King Henry II was quite vexed by Archbishop Thomas Becket. His now infamous ‘non-directive’ that led four knights to kill Becket is in dispute. Becket’s own biographer says that Henry actually said “What miserable drones and traitors have I nurtured and promoted in my household who let their lord be treated with such shameful contempt by a low-born cleric!” Either way they carried out their king’s desire and rid him of the irritant.

The murder of Archbishop Thomas Becket

With Trump’s argument in court this week he wouldn’t even need to be that subtle. Under this concept of Presidential Immunity he could literally tell his loyalists to have someone arrested or killed. Without him being impeached and convicted he would never face a criminal court for the ordering of a murder.

I’ve had a number of my friends tell me that the scenario presented by Judge Pan of ordering SEAL Team 6 to assassinate a political opponent is undermined by the dedication of the military to the Constitution and refusal to obey an unlawful order. This is true. Most military members would never consider such a thing. But history tells us not to be so blithe in our self assurance.

Remember who cleared Lafayette Square that fateful day in 2020? It wasn’t the military who obeyed that outrageous order to clear peaceful protestors. It was U.S. Park Police. Why couldn’t the President have his loyalists in the Border Patrol SWAT Team just handle things for him? They’ve endorsed him multiple times.

Don’t try to make yourself feel better by waving off who would do the killing. There are plenty of people in our government who would jump at the chance to kick down the door of the people vexing King Donald the First. There are plenty even before they flood the government with 50,000 of the people specifically hired to carry out his will.

Don’t sleep on this

The insidious nature of what the Republicans and their allies in the private sector are trying to do to our government and expand Presidential power is dangerous beyond measure and it goes beyond Donald Trump. Couple that with Trump’s court arguments of Presidential immunity and you have a dangerous scenario that is real and in the near future. We cannot sit back and hope that the much vaunted ‘norms and traditions’ of the last 230 years will stop this slide.

Will the courts uphold our values? Sadly we cannot be sure anymore. I guess we will probably find out in the coming months. Let’s hope the walls hold.

If they don’t…well…I do love Portugal.

Sintra, Portugal

If you would like to support our efforts to fight back against Mike Flynn’s outrageous lawsuit I’d appreciate your donation to our legal defense fund: Defend Democracy Against MAGA Lawsuits