{"id":52488,"date":"2021-02-14T14:28:41","date_gmt":"2021-02-14T18:28:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/?p=52488"},"modified":"2021-02-14T14:29:22","modified_gmt":"2021-02-14T18:29:22","slug":"it-was-all-about-one-thing-to-chill-and-criminalize-speech","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/?p=52488","title":{"rendered":"It was all about one thing: To \u2018Chill and Criminalize Speech\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

Aim of Trump Impeachment Is to \u2018Chill and Criminalize Speech\u2019 that Opposes Leftist Agenda: Tom Fitton<\/h1>\n

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BY\u00a0TOM OZIMEK<\/p>\n

Protesters clash with police at the U.S. Capitol in Washington on 6 January 2021. (Above, Julio Cortez\/AP Photo)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Tom Fitton<\/a>, conservative activist and president of Judicial Watch, told The Epoch Times\u2019 \u201cAmerican Thought Leaders<\/a>\u201d in an interview that he believes the aim of bringing an incitement of insurrection charge against former President Donald Trump is to \u201cchill and criminalize speech\u201d that opposes the agenda of those on the political left.<\/p>\n

Calling Trump\u2019s second\u00a0impeachment<\/a>\u00a0trial \u201canti-constitutional,\u201d Fitton remarked that it amounts to an attempt to silence the voices of those raising issues of concern that run counter to certain political objectives.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s really an attack on civil rights and President Trump, the civil rights of his supporters who share his concerns about the issues he\u2019s raised,\u201d Fitton said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd what the left is trying to do is outlaw opposition to its agenda. Number one on the list is concerns about election integrity,\u201d he said. \u201cIf you raise concerns about it, you need to be de-platformed, or worse.\u201d<\/p>\n

Watch managers and directors tell the intrusion actors where to go and what to do and stage the shooting.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

House Democrats making the case for impeachment have argued that Trump set the stage for violence through repeated claims that the election results were fraudulent.<\/p>\n

On the second day of the trial, Democrat impeachment managers laid out the case that the Jan. 6 Capitol breach was not caused by a single speech but was rather the outcome of a months-long model of messaging that sowed doubt about the election and fueled anger among Trump voters by reinforcing the view that they had been cheated out of a win and disenfranchised due to fraud.<\/p>\n

They also alleged that\u00a0Trump summoned a mob to Washington, gave the crowd its marching orders, and did nothing to stop the violence as it played out on television.<\/p>\n

Trump\u2019s defense lawyers have argued that Trump urged the crowd to demonstrate peacefully, and his Jan. 6 remarks about \u201cfighting\u201d were mere figures of speech no different from the kind that politicians typically make, and anyway allowable under First Amendment protections.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo claim that the president in any way wished, desired, or encouraged lawless or violent behavior is a preposterous and monstrous lie,\u201d Michael van der Veen, one of Trump\u2019s lawyers, said Friday.<\/p>\n