Insurrection is a word America might soon know all too well. No doubt a few people clinging wantonly to their deepening denial will want to put an adjective in front of it. It won’t work. Some things are serious enough to command reality, and some realities are powerful enough to claw open the iron-caged faces of even the most profoundly resistant.
More important than the word insurrection itself is its place in the U.S. Code, the body of law that rules this unruly land.
“Whoever incites, sets on foot, assists, or engages in any rebellion or insurrection against the authority of the United States or the laws thereof, or gives aid or comfort thereto, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than ten years, or both; and shall be incapable of holding any office under the United States.” — 18 U.S. Code § 2383.
Does conspiring with a foreign adversary to win an election amount to insurrection? Yes, says Florida attorney Walt Blenner — that or worse.
Blenner studied constitutional law and wrote his thesis on First Amendment issues. He is now a self-described constitutional law enthusiast.
“Trump’s weird collusion with Putin probably exceeds insurrection and borders on treason,” Blenner told Mediavenger via email. “He actually called on Putin and Russian hackers to find Hillary’s ‘lost e-mails.'”
The bottom line, says Blenner: “He invited an international adversary to interfere with domestic issues.”
The stakes are only higher with treason.
“Whoever, owing allegiance to the United States, levies war against them or adheres to their enemies, giving them aid and comfort within the United States or elsewhere, is guilty of treason and shall suffer death, or shall be imprisoned not less than five years and fined under this title but not less than $10,000; and shall be incapable of holding any office under the United States.” 18 U.S. Code § 2381.
The common denominator between the statutes towers over America higher than any skyscraper: “…shall be incapable of holding any office under the United States.”
The cries for unity and the cliches of reaching across the aisle will have to pass the blather test before anything can happen. For a Congress controlled by the party of a scoundrel president to act against him, they will have to come to understand that they will be acting for their country, not their party, that the world itself is in peril at the whims of a madman. They will have to act no less boldly, decisively and honorably than Republicans did with Richard Nixon in 1974. That will have to start with the guts and the grace to do what must be done, as well as the will and clear vision to recognize real criminal wrongdoing when it stares them in the face.
The people of this country should prod them to get on with it. The worst of the ugliness from the ugliest campaign in history were the three-word chants of hard-line political miscreants about what to do with their hero’s opponent in spite of no evidence of criminal wrongdoing on her part.
In a country where communication is a two-way street, a country in a universe that sometimes demands poetic justice, it’s hard not to sense an informed citizen chorus warming its pipes.