Democrats have long tried to establish that Donald Trump incited a riot with his rhetoric. They attempted to make the case that certain phrases were in fact not innocent at all but certain code for violence. These phrases included:
- We will stop the steal
- We will never give up. We will never concede. It doesn’t happen
- If you don’t fight like hell you’re not going to have a country anymore
- We won this election, and we won it by a landslide
Linguistically this is very interesting. It’s a matter of pragmatics. Pragmatics is the study of language in context. For example, if I am at the dinner table and ask someone “where is the salt?” I am not asking about the actual location of the salt. I am asking if someone can pass me the salt. This phrase can be interpreted in many different ways depending on the situation(context). It could be interpreted as very benign if I generally utter that statement at the dinner table, however, in another context it could get me in a lot of trouble. If I look at my with a grimace and point at my food and ask “where’s the salt?” well, that could possible get me a black eye.
So context matters. It matters a lot. Democrats would have you attribute everything evil to Donald J. Trump and everything benevolent to them. They have tried very hard to control the narrative even though it has largely been false.
That is why it was important and brilliant for the Trump’s defense team to show a video of democrats saying the same things in the same context. They drilled home the fact that if Trump is in fact guilty for his rhetoric then democrats are as well.
This has been the biggest legal challenge to this impeachment trial. There is no neutral standard for which Trump can be tried. Why are democrats not be held responsible for their rhetoric that has caused riots and caused damage and death? Why are democrats that use the same rhetoric in the same context not held responsible? That is the question?
Democrats know at this point that Trump will not be convicted, they don’t have the votes, so what is the end game? The end game is what it has been since the beginning to control the narrative. To paint Trump, Republicans, and Trump supporters in the worst possible light. This is the end game. There is nothing else. This is obvious in their tactics. They have not called any witnesses and largely regurgitating news stories that align with their point of view.
Linguistically this is called language domination. They are controlling the narrative which in turns must control the language. They want Trump’s name to be associated with evil. They have tried to associate him with Hitler. They have tried to associate him with insurrection. They have tried to associate him with racism. None of these things are demonstrably true. It is simply a narrative that is being pushed.
I really am not a Trump supporter. I’m a libertarian. I believe in free speech. I believe in logic and reason. It is not logical or reasonable to believe that a trial that is based on a neutral standard is fair. If Trump is convicted(which he won’t be) then many Democrats need to also be convicted. It’s only fair.