On some of the websites I frequent, I’ll encounter people saying that Trump is treasonous. I patiently explain to them that our nation’s founders had had terrible experiences with accusations of treason simply because some colonist had dared to criticize Mad King George within hearing of British troops. That’s why our Constitution and Bill of Rights contain specific protections about being tried in the jurisdiction where the “offense” occurred (not across the Atlantic), confronting opposing witnesses and summoning supporting ones, and trial by a jury of one’s peers. The pinnacle of that aversion to abuse of authority was defining treason right within the Constitution itself — the only crime to have that distinction — to make sure that nobody in the future could get away with casting such accusations lightly. An essential feature of that definition was that it’s only treason if one is giving aid and comfort to the enemy, and the only way we can have an enemy is if Congress has enacted a formal declaration of war against one. The last one of those wrapped up in 1945.
So yeah, Trump is clearly a deranged ässhole who tried to undermine everything America supposedly stands for, but it’s not treason. However, as the Jan. 6 select committee clearly demonstrated, his behavior did constitute a crime that can be committed in peacetime, namely insurrection. FWIW, insurrection is punishable by a prison term (and lifelong prohibition from ever holding elective office), but treason is a capital offense, so I have to wonder if some people who keep throwing that term around so freely are just indulging their bloodlust.
On some of the websites I frequent, I’ll encounter people saying that Trump is treasonous. I patiently explain to them that our nation’s founders had had terrible experiences with accusations of treason simply because some colonist had dared to criticize Mad King George within hearing of British troops. That’s why our Constitution and Bill of Rights contain specific protections about being tried in the jurisdiction where the “offense” occurred (not across the Atlantic), confronting opposing witnesses and summoning supporting ones, and trial by a jury of one’s peers. The pinnacle of that aversion to abuse of authority was defining treason right within the Constitution itself — the only crime to have that distinction — to make sure that nobody in the future could get away with casting such accusations lightly. An essential feature of that definition was that it’s only treason if one is giving aid and comfort to the enemy, and the only way we can have an enemy is if Congress has enacted a formal declaration of war against one. The last one of those wrapped up in 1945.
So yeah, Trump is clearly a deranged ässhole who tried to undermine everything America supposedly stands for, but it’s not treason. However, as the Jan. 6 select committee clearly demonstrated, his behavior did constitute a crime that can be committed in peacetime, namely insurrection. FWIW, insurrection is punishable by a prison term (and lifelong prohibition from ever holding elective office), but treason is a capital offense, so I have to wonder if some people who keep throwing that term around so freely are just indulging their bloodlust.