Discussion: in a just world with the first amendment in place, would Trump have grounds to sue people who spoke violently about him?

posted 129 days ago by ApparentlyImAHeretic 129 days ago by ApparentlyImAHeretic +16 / -0

so the shooter was most likely radicalized by all the left wing rhetoric claiming Trump is hitler, Trump is a fascist, Trump is going to gas the trans people, etc etc. we saw politicians like Nancy pelosi calling for uprisings, staffers insisting that people "take one for the team" and shoot the president.

Now that someone has taken action on this violent rhetoric, could Trump sue for damages against Nancy Pelosi and her ilk? would he have a case?

EDIT: by just world, I mean in America where the justices actually enforce the law.

15 comments

15 comments share save hide report block hide replies

You're viewing a single comment thread. View all comments, or full comment thread.

Comments (15)

sorted by:

▲ 6 ▼

– Graphenium 6 points 129 days ago +6 / -0

Since yesterday, I’ve seen people chattering about so-called “stochastic terrorism”, which seems to be a theory under which such statements could (potentially, I don’t think it’s happened yet) be prosecuted

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stochastic_terrorism

Stochastic terrorism is targeted political violence that has been instigated by hostile public rhetoric directed at a group or individual. Unlike incitement to terrorism, this is accomplished by using indirect, vague, or coded language that allows the instigator to plausibly disclaim responsibility for the resulting violence.[1] A key element is the use of social media and other distributed forms of communications where the person who carries out the violence has no direct connection to the users of violent rhetoric.

Personally I don’t think 1st amendment protections for these kinds of statements should ever be legally reconsidered, but I do see the validity in places like X/KiA2 (i.e. self or community moderation) putting limits on them. When you allow insanity like that to take over it drowns out all the sanity and you’re just left with useless noise