Op-ed:
'True Threats' of Violence...More Than Just Media Fodder
By: Diane Sori / The Patriot Factor / Right Side
Patriots on
http://www.americanpbn.com/
“I think if we go into a convention, whoever gets 1,237 delegates
becomes the nominee. It’s plain and simple.”
- RNC Chief
Strategist Sean Spicer
Well folks Donald Trump is spewing words of instigation yet again…this
time going way beyond just the absurd about his supporters not caring if
he shot somebody while walking down Fifth Avenue; even going beyond his
not outwardly condemning the recent violence in Chicago that led to his
claiming that his First Amendment right to free speech had been
violated...which by the way it was not.
Now Trump is actually putting the Republican delegates and the
Republican hierarchy on notice with threats that if after the
primaries he does not reach the magic number of 1,237 needed to secure
the nomination...and know there is nothing nefarious about that number
as it's simply half the delegates plus one...in other words the
majority...that should he nevertheless finish with the most delegates no
matter the number, and if the nomination were to go to someone else
that violence could result...as in his words,
“I think you’d have
riots.”
Speaking by phone this past Wednesday on CNN's 'New Day' with Chris Cuomo, Donald Trump
stated that he's
“representing many millions of people”...completely
ignoring the fact that the other two candidates still in the race, Ted Cruz and John Kasich, can say the exact same
thing. Then by adding that,
“If you disenfranchise those people, and you
say, ‘I’m sorry, you’re 20 votes short or 100 votes short and we’re at
1,100 and somebody else is at 500 or 400…I think you’d have problems
like you’ve never seen before. I think bad things would happen...I think
you would see problems like you’ve never seen before. I think bad
things would happen. I really do. I wouldn’t lead it, but I think bad
things would happen,” Trump has actually tried to blackmail the GOP...as in
'give me the nomination contested or otherwise or else'...thus making
Donald Trump no better than the thugs and hoodlums that he so loves to
call out. And know that this latest stunt of his will be turned into yet
another soundbite...just like Chicago was...that the media will report
on ad-nauseum, thus denying both Cruz and Kasich their rightful air time.
Click on link to hear Donald Trump threatening riots in his own voice:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r5vkrtsDX74
And it's the media...the very ones whose 'bought-and- paid-for' ratings
whore existence revolves around 'The Donald Trump Presidential Reality
Show'...who wait with baited breath to see if Trump's words are legally
an actual threat or just wishful thinking on his part...wishful thinking
by the man who, like Barack HUSSEIN Obama, thinks himself king...and if he's not
perceived as king he'll buy, if you will, your undying loyalty...just
ask Dr. Ben Carson.
And
while being quick to tell Cuomo that he himself won’t lead any
riots...I personally believe he'll just orchestrate them from
behind...Donald Trump made sure in the interview to stop legally just
short of directly threatening violence. But know that nowhere
in his words did Trump denounce or discourage violence...which would
have been the honorable thing to do...thus proving himself to be what
many of us have thought since day one...that Donald Trump is nothing
but a thug in a multi-billionaire disguise. And now add in the many
talking heads...especially FOX's Sean Hannity who has been in the
tank for Trump since the moment he announced his run...who love to feed
into
and help perpetrate the Trump mantra about riots breaking out at the
convention if he were denied the nomination. After all, violence of any
kind is a ratings bonanza and the masses so relish in watching Donald
Trump vs. the GOP establishment show, that it's now become yet another
blood sport.
And what has the reaction of the Republican party hierarchy been to
Trump's rhetoric of possible riots if he's denied the nomination even if
he doesn't reach the must have 1,237 number...
“Well first of all, I
assume [Trump] is speaking figuratively,” said RNC Chief Strategist Sean
Spicer, who went on to say that the convention is just part of the
process, and that the Trump campaign will not receive any special
treatment, and that he will not be voted up or down based upon anything
other than the will of the delegates and whatever wheeling and dealing
that happens on the convention floor, both for or against Trump.
In other words, the convention would still go contested but not
brokered, with the all important difference being that in a brokered
convention a party committee picks the nominee while in a contested
convention the delegates themselves make that decision having been
released from their pledge after the first balloting. And really there
is nothing wrong with that especially since some members of the RNC are
working towards being more transparent on the convention floor by trying
to replace the currently used 1,500-page Parliamentary Handbook of the
U.S. House with Robert's Rules of Order. And while Robert's simpler
procedures and rules still would not guarantee Donald Trump the nomination it will at
least thwart any underhanded dealings to deny him the nomination if he
reaches the all-important 1,237 number.
But even with the RNC at least trying to work things out fairly for all
parties concerned, if truth be told Trump's threatening, instigating, or even just alluding
to riots or violence is, in my opinion, reason enough to deny him the nomination
as threats of violence against individuals, according to the Supreme
Court (Watts v. United States), fall outside First Amendment protection
and are arrestable offenses. Citing three main reasons why 'true
threats' of violence are not protected rights, the High Court has stated
that,
“protecting individuals from the fear of violence, from the
disruption that fear engenders, and from the possibility that the
threatened violence will occur,” takes precedence over the right of
someone to spew words instigating violence.
In fact, the Ninth Circuit has stated that a 'true threat' is
“a
statement which, in the entire context and under all the circumstances, a
reasonable person would foresee would be interpreted by those to whom
the statement is communicated as a serious expression of intent to
inflict bodily harm upon that person,” adding that
“It is not necessary
that the defendant intend to, or be able to carry out his threat; the
only intent requirement for a 'true threat' is that the defendant
intentionally or knowingly communicate the threat.” And Donald Trump has
said time and again that anything he says is true...meaning even his
alluding to or wishing for possible violence can and should be taken as a
'true threat.'
And while Justice Learned Hand, a champion of free speech, stated in
his 1917 opinion 'Masses v. United States' that even dangerous
'dissident speech' was somewhat protected under the First Amendment, he
conceded that government could regulate and call to task any speaker who
would
"counsel or advise a man" to commit an unlawful act...which is
exactly what Donald Trump did with his threats about bad things
happening if he is denied the nomination.
And even if Trump's 'true threat' words were to be
dismissed...which I believe they should not be what with the pattern of
violence at his rallies and events increasing while he feeds into it
with vile rhetoric (see my Right Side Patriots partner and friend Craig
Andresen's and my joint article about just that here:
http://thepatriotfactor.blogspot.com/201...)...it must also be noted that Trump's words about possible riots are
nothing but a ploy...a scare tactic...to disenfranchise voters into not
voting at all if the delegates or the party award the nomination to anybody but him.
In fact, Donald Trump has even stated that if he does not get the nomination that
he will bring charges that a contested convention is illegitimate, and
that he will advise his many supporters not to back the nominee so as to
do as much damage to the Republican party as he possibly can.
And folks, if that is not yet another threat then seriously I don't know what is.
So now while Donald Trump's 'true threats' seem to be taken as
nothing but made-for-TV media ratings fodder, we are left with a game of
mathematics...will Trump reach the 1,237 number needed for the
nomination before it goes to convention or will Ted Cruz or John Kasich
be able to stop him. And let's be honest here...John Kasich with his
lowly 68 delegates has no chance of stopping Trump before the
convention, while Ted Cruz has an outside chance of pulling it
off...that is if he can pull 78% of all the remaining delegates from the
states who have not yet voted into his corner. It's a long shot but it
can be done if he can secure former candidate Marco Rubio's 170
delegates once they are released...or better yet if a deal is worked out
and announced before the convention for a Cruz/Rubio ticket.
Now that is something I could go for and a ticket like that would
steamroller over Hillary in a heartbeat. And it would also knock the
wind out of both Donald Trump's campaign and any words he could say
because together Cruz and Rubio have more delegates and support than
Trump...and no threats made and no hopes of violence can counter
numbers...it truly is that simple.
Can Donald Trump be stopped from winning the Republican
nomination? The answer is yes. Despite his big win over Marco Rubio in
Florida and his narrow wins over Ted Cruz in Illinois, Missouri and
North Carolina, he has not won a majority of delegates yet awarded --
661 at this writing, with several more to be added when Missouri and
Illinois congressional district totals are tabulated.
This is a precedent. There are myriad ISIS cases coming up in America
charging Islamic State members, and this was the test. I will be very
interested to see what kind of sentence he gets — what Texas does will
be an example for the rest of the country. What does conspiring to
slaughter Americans on American soil for exercising their First
Amendment rights get you? It should get you life in prison. It’s treason
and sedition. But no one talks about such things anymore. 
Donald
Trump completely lacks any foreign policy substance…a fact that has
become alarmingly apparent during debates as well as on the campaign
trail.
“I think if we go into a convention, whoever gets 1,237 delegates
becomes the nominee. It’s plain and simple.” 
Speaking by phone this past Wednesday on CNN's 'New Day' with Chris Cuomo, Donald Trump
stated that he's “representing many millions of people”...completely
ignoring the fact that the other two candidates still in the race, Ted Cruz and John Kasich, can say the exact same
thing. Then by adding that, “If you disenfranchise those people, and you
say, ‘I’m sorry, you’re 20 votes short or 100 votes short and we’re at
1,100 and somebody else is at 500 or 400…I think you’d have problems
like you’ve never seen before. I think bad things would happen...I think
you would see problems like you’ve never seen before. I think bad
things would happen. I really do. I wouldn’t lead it, but I think bad
things would happen,” Trump has actually tried to blackmail the GOP...as in
'give me the nomination contested or otherwise or else'...thus making
Donald Trump no better than the thugs and hoodlums that he so loves to
call out. And know that this latest stunt of his will be turned into yet
another soundbite...just like Chicago was...that the media will report
on ad-nauseum, thus denying both Cruz and Kasich their rightful air time.
Click on link to hear Donald Trump threatening riots in his own voice: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r5vkrtsDX74
And folks, if that is not yet another threat then seriously I don't know what is.