Donald Trump flames out

| 12:01 pm EDT September 27, 2021
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If you are sick of hearing about former “president” Donald Trump, raise your hand. It is difficult to believe that people are still listening to this clown, let alone treating him as if he deserves any semblance of respect. Every time he opens his mouth, he displays his sheer ignorance and idiocy, but unfortunately, it works on some. Most of his ridiculous rhetoric is for deflection, which is a Trump staple. His comments in the Hill regarding the House Select Committee’s subpoenas are a classic example.

Trump claims he can use executive privilege to stop the committee’s subpoenas. Many experts believe exercising that privilege may be harder than Trump thinks. The Hill quoted a statement he issued: “We will fight the Subpoenas on Executive Privilege and other grounds, for the good of our Country, while we wait to find out whether or not Subpoenas will be sent out to Antifa and BLM for the death and destruction they have caused in tearing apart our Democratic-run cities throughout America.” There is so much that is wrong in Trump’s statement. First and foremost, while some groups may support the ideals of Antifa, Antifa is not itself a group. It is an idea. CBS News describes Antifa as “a loose affiliation of local activists scattered across the United States and a few other countries.” So, while some members of Black Lives Matter, for example, may support the ideals of Antifa, they are not part of any Antifa group because there is not one.

As for Black Lives Matter, yes, this group was involved in numerous protests across the country following the murder of George Floyd. The Harvard Radcliff Institute (“HRI”) has been collecting and studying data of protests since 2017, including the BLM protests. HRI determined through the 7,305 events it studied: “The overall levels of violence and property destruction were low, and most of the violence that did take place was, in fact, directed against the BLM protesters.” Most of us have known this all along, and Trump is merely using sleight of hand, if you will, to distract from his own misdeeds. He is not alone. Many Republicans try to compare the January 6 insurrectionists to peaceful BLM protesters. There is no comparison and bringing them up changes nothing. The insurrectionists damaged millions of dollars in property and were directly responsible for thousands of injuries.

Trump can try to deflect all he likes, but Bennie Thompson told the Hill that “nobody is beyond a subpoena,” including Trump’s children or Trump himself. The committee holds subpoena power and can sue in civil court if those subpoenas are ignored. According to Bradley Moss, a lawyer experienced in national security law: “Mr. Trump’s ability to invoke executive privilege with respect to testimony, as opposed to records, is even weaker.” He further said that should Trump try to battle the issue in court, “he would ultimately lose.” The best that Trump can do is drag things out until Democrats are no longer in power, but he best hope they have not found any substantial evidence before that happens.

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