I'd actually put Eastman at the top of the list because he laid out the blueprint for essentially disregarding the votes of 81,000,000 voters and installing this country's Orange dictator wannabe as the President. It took Dan Quayle's (!!!!!!) advice to save the country (words that I never in a million years thought that I would write).
Great job David. This is good. Can you clarify something about Dershowitz? Has he always argued that presidents must commit a crime for them to be impeached? That view is risible.
Thank you! That article is instructive and totally worth keeping. I'm amazed that Dershowitz would say this. Has he not read the literature? Whatever trust I had in him and the benefit of the doubt I would extend to him is gone now.
Katyal is spot on this, and just an fyi: if you've not read Frank Bowman's High Crimes and Misdemeanors, you should. It's a tour du force of legal scholarship.
PS: Super glad to see you've recovered so well. And good luck with the substack. I didn't realize you had one till today. Be well. :)
Hugo Chavez died in 2013. Unless he returned from the dead, it is unlikely he had anything to do with the 2020 election. Birthright citizenship is a strange creature, though it is enshrined in the US constitution. Few countries have it. If you're pregnant and HSBP thinks you came to the country to give birth, they will exclude you.
When someone commits a mass murder (if they are white) we often describe them as "crazy". The idea is to excuse their crime by denying mens rea. Of course, some mass murderers do suffer with mental illness, and may be deserving of sympathy, while others do not.
I put TDS in the same category -- a supposed mental illness that can be called upon to excuse criminal behavior. And, I am a skeptic with regard to this diagnosis, except in the case of Rudy Giuliani. Occam's Razor suggests that they are simply grifters who are making a desperate bet that Trump eventually succeeds.
And, what of Trump's own mental state? Grifter or TDS sufferer? Some cult leaders clearly do believe their own ranting, while others are just cynically exploiting their followers.
Just to be clear (and I think the substance of this piece reflects this), I don’t intend to excuse anyone from moral, ethical, or legal responsibility for their actions. TDS is a framing device for this post, but it is obviously not an actual mental illness that would provide an excuse to anyone for anything.
It’s also worth noting that, contrary to popular belief, insanity defenses are practically impossible to invoke successfully in real life.
I'd actually put Eastman at the top of the list because he laid out the blueprint for essentially disregarding the votes of 81,000,000 voters and installing this country's Orange dictator wannabe as the President. It took Dan Quayle's (!!!!!!) advice to save the country (words that I never in a million years thought that I would write).
Lawrence Lessig had Eastman on his podcast to talk about the memo and the election. It is an interesting listen: https://equalcitizens.us/discussing-the-john-eastman-memo-with-john-eastman/
Great job David. This is good. Can you clarify something about Dershowitz? Has he always argued that presidents must commit a crime for them to be impeached? That view is risible.
Here’s his explanation for his apparent shift in position on this issue:
https://time.com/5768656/alan-dershowitz-impeachment-crimes-trump-interview/
I find Neal Katyal’s argument on this far note persuasive—a “high crime and misdemeanor” doesn’t require violation of a criminal statute.
Thank you! That article is instructive and totally worth keeping. I'm amazed that Dershowitz would say this. Has he not read the literature? Whatever trust I had in him and the benefit of the doubt I would extend to him is gone now.
Katyal is spot on this, and just an fyi: if you've not read Frank Bowman's High Crimes and Misdemeanors, you should. It's a tour du force of legal scholarship.
PS: Super glad to see you've recovered so well. And good luck with the substack. I didn't realize you had one till today. Be well. :)
The point seems crystal-clear to me; I am not a lawyer.
Hugo Chavez died in 2013. Unless he returned from the dead, it is unlikely he had anything to do with the 2020 election. Birthright citizenship is a strange creature, though it is enshrined in the US constitution. Few countries have it. If you're pregnant and HSBP thinks you came to the country to give birth, they will exclude you.
When someone commits a mass murder (if they are white) we often describe them as "crazy". The idea is to excuse their crime by denying mens rea. Of course, some mass murderers do suffer with mental illness, and may be deserving of sympathy, while others do not.
I put TDS in the same category -- a supposed mental illness that can be called upon to excuse criminal behavior. And, I am a skeptic with regard to this diagnosis, except in the case of Rudy Giuliani. Occam's Razor suggests that they are simply grifters who are making a desperate bet that Trump eventually succeeds.
And, what of Trump's own mental state? Grifter or TDS sufferer? Some cult leaders clearly do believe their own ranting, while others are just cynically exploiting their followers.
Just to be clear (and I think the substance of this piece reflects this), I don’t intend to excuse anyone from moral, ethical, or legal responsibility for their actions. TDS is a framing device for this post, but it is obviously not an actual mental illness that would provide an excuse to anyone for anything.
It’s also worth noting that, contrary to popular belief, insanity defenses are practically impossible to invoke successfully in real life.