What Is Incitement?
The world watched yesterday as a group of domestic terrorists took over the US Capitol building as Congress gathered to confirm the votes cast by the Electoral College. Certification is usually a routine elective formality. But nothing in the Trump administration – and even less so in this transfer of power – was typical.
When it became clear in November that Donald Trump had lost his re-election bid, he turned to his favorite survival mechanism: blaming everyone for his failure and playing the victim. Except this time, it involved inventing (or collaborating) and then spreading the lie that Biden’s election victory was a fake – contested even by his own (now former) Attorney General – and in the process undermines the foundations of American democracy (the entire this “free freedom”). and fair elections ”).
What happened yesterday?
Trump has often seemed uninterested in running the affairs of the presidency, but he has a history of focusing on the things he thinks are important – which usually help him get his way. (As an example, after US intelligence discovered that foreign hackers had seriously infiltrated government offices and infrastructure, Trump said nothing for several days , during which he found enough time to tweet about the election.) 20 December 2020, Trump tweeted that it was “Statistically impossible” for him to lose the 2020 election ( no ), then told his followers that there would be a “big protest” in Washington on January 6, ordering them to “be there” because this “will be wild!” They were, and it was .
As everything happened live on television, reporters and people on social media used a variety of terms to refer to what was happening, from euphemism bordering on compliments (“protest”) to precise (“coup”). Words such as “rebellion”, “rebellion” and “treason” soon began to appear.
And for those vaguely familiar with these terms from high school government classes or half listening to international news, they raised several questions , including, “What exactly does this mean again?” and “Can you blame the president for this?”
So far, we can only answer the first of them: Here’s what you need to know about the definitions and the differences between incitement, insurrection, coup, and treason – just normal things to think about with regard to the President of the United States.
What is sedition?
In a televised address yesterday afternoon, President-elect Joe Biden said that the lawlessness in the capital “borders on sedition” – but what exactly? Under US law, a crime is called a “seditious conspiracy” and involves two or more people conspiring to do one or more of the following:
- Overthrow, suppress or destroy the government by force.
- Levy war against the United States
- Oppose government authorities using force.
- Prevent, interfere with, or delay the execution of any US laws.
- Take, take away, or take possession of any property in the United States.
There’s a lot to work with there, but as Devin Schindler, professor of law at Western Michigan University’s Cooley School of Law points out , the “deferring the law” part is key when it comes to yesterday’s domestic terrorist attacks. Here’s how Schindler explained it to the Detroit Free Press :
“For at least some of these protesters, especially those who broke into the Capitol, I think there is an overwhelmingly compelling case that they used force to delay, obstruct our election laws and how the votes of the electors are counted. It seems pretty obvious to me from what we see that people are actually, almost like a textbook, violating this seditious conspiracy law by using force to interfere with legitimate government activities. ” [our fat]
The plot of the theft – a criminal offense, punishable by a fine and imprisonment for up to 20 years.
What is a coup?
We have a detailed explanation of coups (which you should definitely check), but the short version is:
Coup is an abbreviation for coup d’état, which, by its formal definition , is often used to denote a sudden, illegal takeover of power from a government. There has only been one coup in American history – the Wilmington Riot of 1898, in which a group of white supremacists overthrew the local government and killed dozens of blacks.
So was there an attempted coup d’etat yesterday? While you are thinking, here are some of today’s approaches to this topic.
What is rebellion?
Biden did not leave this to rebellion, laterexplaining that yesterday’s siege of the Capitol was “not a protest – this is an uprising.” By definition, insurrection means “an act or event of insurrection against civil authority or an established government.” Under US law, a crime includes inciting, attacking , assisting or participating in any rebellion or insurrection. This sentence is accompanied by a fine or imprisonment for up to 10 years and a life ban from office in the United States.
What is treason?
You are probably already familiar with the concept of treason, but what about its meaning under US law? First, it is the only crime expressly defined in the US Constitution , which provides that it can only involve two types of behavior: (1) “unleashing a war” against the United States; or (2) “supporting [the] enemies of [the United States], giving them help and consolation.”
What constitutes treason has narrowed over the years due to case law ( read more here ), and after World War II there has been a move away from accusing individuals of treason. According to Schindler, it is unlikely that the accusation will be applied to yesterday’s events, since this requires the participation of US enemies. Punishments for high treason range from the death penalty to imprisonment for at least five years and a fine of at least $ 10,000, as well as being banned from holding public office – although, again, such charges have rarely been brought outside of war (or more generally) …