Jeff Tiedrich Wants To Shred The Constitution To "Save" The Constitution
The Law Does Not Work That Way. Fascism, However, Does.
Trump Derangement Syndrome is very much a “thing”, and it is very damaging to rational thought processes. It also poses a very real threat to whatever remains of Constitutional governance in this country.
To see the foundational truth of these assertions one need look no further than a recent repugnant and reprehensible stream of verbal effluvia from self-styled “Internet loudmouth” Jeff Tiedrich.
so there’s this fresh load of smelly bulls**t that’s being shoved in our faces, and it goes like this:
we can’t keep Trump off the ballot, his worshipers will throw a sh*t-fit. there will be riots in the streets and pandemonium at the polling places. that’s too messy, so let’s just give in and let Trump have his way.
I’m sorry, but letting a bully get away with whatever he wants for fear he’ll unleash his army of violent morons if we don’t is literally how fascism works.
Tiedrich’s attempt at jeremiad can be assessed simply and succinctly: hogwash and horse hockey.
More crucially for our purposes, however, is the logical flaw at the core of his extended tantruming: Tiedrich asks us to set aside the Constitution, the rule of law, and the very concept of due process because he is terrified that Donald Trump himself presumably plans on shredding the Constitution.
fair? why are we being fair to a bunch of democracy-hating extremists who would sh*t on the Constitution in a heartbeat?
What Tiedrich derides as some mockable notion of “fairness” is in reality fidelity to the same Constitution on which he thinks Trump supporters defecate proudly and often.
It is fidelity to the Constitution that demands state government do not enact judicial, administrative, or legislative bills of attainder against Donald Trump to disqualify him from their ballots by some distorted and deluded reading of the Fourteenth Amendment.
It is fidelity to the Constitution that demands Donald Trump—and all candidates—be free to pursue their electoral ambitions without government interference.
It is fidelity to the Constitution that demands those who truly believe Donald Trump guilty of some high crime or misdemeanor push for his impeachment and conviction at an impeachment trial in order to disqualify him from further elective office.
Since Jeff Tiedrich is as apparently unfamiliar with these concepts as he is with an English sentence composed without resorting to banal and sophomoric vulgarity, we must once again be reminded of the facts, the law, and the logic behind them, that we may wash away the stains and the stench his noxious excrement leaves within the realm of public discourse.
First and foremost, we must never ever lose sight of the simple legal reality that Donald Trump is categorically not convicted of any crime, let alone one that would lead to a disqualification under the Fourteenth Amendment. Donald Trump is categorically not even charged with either insurrection or seditious conspiracy.
With no certain act of insurrection, and no certain act of incitement, it is logically and legally impossible for Donald Trump to be considered an “insurrectionist”. The media and the Democrats may wish to hold him responsible for the J6 riot, but that is a political posturing only. If we are making an impartial and therefore just application of the letter of the law, Donald Trump cannot be considered an insurrectionist.
As Donald Trump cannot be legally considered an insurrectionist, Section 3 of the 14th Amendment cannot be applied against him.
Had Jack Smith felt he had evidence sufficient to charge Donald Trump with either insurrection or seditious conspiracy, Jeff Tiedrich’s rantings would begin to acquire a veneer of substance. That Jack Smith did not bring such charges leads inevitably to the conclusion that Jack Smith did not feel he had evidence sufficient to charge Donald Trump with either insurrection or seditious conspiracy.
Lacking both the charge and the conviction, there is simply no way to apply Section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment to Donald Trump without violating Constitutional prohibitions against bills of attainder.
However, Donald Trump has not been charged with either offense. Even Jack Smith declined to so charge Donald Trump. While Trump was charged with “incitement of insurrection” at his second impeachment trial in February 2021, he was acquitted by the Senate of that charge.
This is important because the Constitution carries another important prohibition regarding a person’s guilt: Article 1 Section 9 Clause 3 specifically bars the Congress from passing any “Bill of Attainder”, defined explicitly in Cummings v Missouri3 as follows:
A bill of attainder is a legislative act which inflicts punishment without a judicial trial. If the punishment be less than death, the act is termed a bill of pains and penalties. Within the meaning of the Constitution, bills of attainder include bills of pains and penalties.
Article 1 Section 10 Clause 1 further extends this Constitutional prohibition to the several states, something Chief Justice John Marshall explicitly affirmed in Fletcher v Peck.
Jeff Tiedrich is within his rights to argue that Donald Trump is an insurrectionist. He is not within his rights to extend that argument into a legal disqualification against Donald Trump’s candicacy for the 2024 Presidential election. Neither the Constitution nor the rule of law admits of such an arrogation of State power against any individual, including Donald Trump.
By making such an argument he is arguing against one of the Constitution’s absolute prohibitions, one which is applied both to federal and state governments. We should note that such arguments are how one actually defecates on the Constitution—Tiedrich is demonstrably performing the very act with which he attempts to demonize Donald Trump and those who support his candidacy.
Irony abounds.
Jeff Tiedrich, quite by accident, proves yet again the thesis I have advanced before: the proper way to address potential prosecutions of malfeasance by any former President committed while in office is to first vote articles of impeachment and then hold an impeachment trial. Adjudicate the politics first and only then proceed to an adjudication of the particular legal charges.
If Tiedrich feels there is a strong case to be made against Donald Trump, he should make it, and make it openly. He should marshal his arguments, present his evidences, and defend his conclusions. While Tiedrich obviously feels strongly, he marshals no argument against Donald Trump, presents no evidences, leaving his conclusions wholly indefensible.
This lack of proper argumentation by Jeff Tiedrich undoes his entire posture, for it reduces his pontifications against “fascism” to utter absurdity. What Tiedrich dare not admit even to himself is that he is the “fascist” here. He is the authoritarian, the one who would use any manner of State power to disadvantage a political adversary. The arguments to be made against Big Tech Social Media censorship are the same ones to be used against Jeff Tiedrich’s call for an illegal bill of attainder against Donald Trump.
As censorship is the tool of authoritarians, to embrace censorship is to become authoritarian. The moment one silences another, in that moment one “but teaches Bloody instructions”—instructions which will most assuredly “return to plague the inventor”. One cannot use censorship as a means to defeating fascism, for in the act of censorship one becomes fascist—one becomes the very thing nominally being opposed.
In like manner, this country cannot follow Jeff Tiedrich’s preferred path, because banning opposition political candidates is also a tool of authoritarians, and to embrace such bans is to become authoritarian.
Jeff Tiedrich, far from being the opposition to fascism, is by his own embrace of authoritarian and unconstitutional abuse of State power the epitome of fascism.
His unwittingly ironic call for fascism should not be heeded. Rather, it should be scorned, it should be mocked, it should be refused, and it should be rejected.
For the love of liberty and the Constitution, tell Jeff Tiedrich to go straight to Hell.
Tiedrich had 1.8k “likes” when I read his diatribe. That part is scary. Idiocy abounds, and votes too.
Pearls before swine, alas. But superbly well thought out and well written.