Quote:
Originally Posted by ThurgreedMarshall
I think the point he is making is that if the witnesses weren't instructed to lie and stonewall, and they actually cooperated, evidence of criminal conspiracy (the equivalent of what we all think of as "criminal collusion") might have been proven.
TM
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That's entirely possible. That's a reasonable position.
Too often, however, that argument, which speaks to how Trump and the Russians manipulated voters, is used as a basis to assert his election was somehow invalid. These are two different things. If Trump committed a crime by working with Russians to spread fake news to gullible voters, the crime is the technical violation of a statute. The manipulation of voters is not a crime. Nor is there a fruit of the poison tree argument to be made. What the voters do, based on whatever rotten manipulation is applied to them, is their choice and theirs alone. If Trump and the Russians can bullshit you, you deserve to be bullshitted. Good for them, bad for you. (As to the bullshitted Trump voters, not those who knew what he was and wanted to elect him.)
This is an important distinction because if we allow the argument to take hold that because voters were underhandedly manipulated, Trump is illegitimate, then:
1. Voters are off the hook, and not responsible for their actions;
2. Which invites an argument about whether we should apply rules to what voters may see and not see, or worse, who may vote.
Number 2 is taking place in the EU right now, where some countries are taking action to shut down "fake news." They've effectively infantilized their voting public -- deemed them too dim to know what's best for them. We have too many tools for this sort of soft electronic totalitarianism here. Imagine if the officious twits in DC who think everything can be fixed with simply more regs or laws decided to start regulating "fake news." You can throw freedom of speech right out the window. And the right and the left would abuse such laws and regs with abandon.
The voters are at fault for Trump. There's a portion of this country, a damn big one, that likes him and what he says. Those who argue the Trump voters were all mere dupes do nobody any favors. That they're lying is obvious, and this lie invites a curtailing of free speech that should scare the shit out of every American.
People have a right to lie to voters, and that right is sacred to the Republic, and voters have a duty to educate themselves or be duped. No nannies. No censorship in the name of "fake news prevention." We are not the EU.
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