Donald Trump tells court he had no duty to ‘support’ the US Constitution
Donald Trump tells court he had no duty to ‘support’ the US Constitution
‘The Presidential oath, which the framers of the Fourteenth Amendment surely knew, requires the President to swear to ‘preserve, protect and defend’ the Constitution — not to ‘support’ the Constitution,’ read a filing from the former president’s attorneys
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“Never believe that anti-Semites are completely unaware of the absurdity of their replies. They know that their remarks are frivolous, open to challenge. But they are amusing themselves, for it is their adversary who is obliged to use words responsibly, since he believes in words. The anti-Semites have the right to play. They even like to play with discourse for, by giving ridiculous reasons, they discredit the seriousness of their interlocutors. They delight in acting in bad faith, since they seek not to persuade by sound argument but to intimidate and disconcert. If you press them too closely, they will abruptly fall silent, loftily indicating by some phrase that the time for argument is past.”
― Jean-Paul Sartre
Seems like you can replace anti-Semites with any populist reactionary in this quote. But in terms of an argument, I have seen far too many just end up with replies that ignore most of it and just stick to whatever crumbs they still see as an opening, specially when they know they can intimidate and disconcert by number.
Very few ever "fall silently", as this quote portrays, it is either a forced silence by the conversation being closed by moderators who are either complicit or getting bombarded with intimidation and alarmism themselves, or by branching out into gaslighting far outside of the discussion. Getting the last word is worth shit, much like silence itself. But with so many thinking silence indicates rightness, is it a wonder that so much of the word is addicted to the most permanent form of silence, death? History is written by the victors, upon the body of corpses.
I can tell you this: Trump isn't the sort who will ever fall silent.
I think of the quote as explaining one type of situation, trying to reason with someone who is unreasonable plus want you and those like you out.
It's illuminating because the extreme opinion do this same thing with words. Splitting hairs, to always find a shape that fits their need. Because their intentions don't require words, just control and emotions.
It also has a strong reminder for me, my grandfather's mom was just a baby on her mother's back during the events of Wounded Knee. The events of a single day have the power to remain for generations.