Trying To Make Lemonade

Trump impeachment lawyer Bruce Castor tells ⁦@KYWNewsradio⁩’s ⁦@JMelwert⁩ that the former president can’t be held responsible for what his supporters did after his rally on Jan 6 — pic.twitter.com/JjuG9QWa19

— Steven Portnoy (@stevenportnoy) February 3, 2021

He can, actually. Especially since the case against Trump doesn't rest on what he said on January 6th. Well, not on that alone. Trump had urged his supporters to be there, via Twitter, much earlier; and promised it would be "wild!" And many of his supporters heard him say they had to have "courage" to change the system (i.e., usurp the Constitutional election order). He called on them, repeatedly before and on January 6th, to be a "super court" that ruled the dicta of Bush v. Gore (only legislatures can change state electoral process, which is not what Rehnquist said but what Trump said Rehnquist said) overrode 60 court cases and at least 2 Supreme Court opinions on the facts Trump was contesting (the facts of the electoral process in 2020, that is). And they heard him; they gathered, and they stormed, just as the White House wanted them to. If they "got out of hand," that's on Trump, too. The least charge levied, remember, was "unlawful entry."  If they did worse, that's on Trump for inciting them at all.  Just as the felony murder rule means you are liable for a murder committed by another in the commission of the common felony, incitement means you get the action you got, not necessarily the action you might have wished for.

Aside, of course, from all the roadblocks raised against sending in the National Guard or any other support; and Trump gleefully watching the melee on television, and only calling for restrain after his aides got through his thick skull to tell him he might be in trouble.

I mean, seriously, this isn't even a good criminal defense.  Not that Trump needs a solid defense in a Senate trial.  But he's going to damage the GOP further by making this necessary (is he really going to run for office again in four years?).  And he's letting prosecutors see a dry run of his legal defense if they decide to charge him with seditious conspiracy.

So maybe Trump's lawyers aren't making lemonade after all.  Maybe they're fashioning the lock on his jail cell.

We live in hope.