President Trump's Impeachment Trial

O men of the United States,

It appears that your former President Donald Trump has undergone another trial of the law, just as I did in the year 399 BCE. It is true that I was on trial for impiety and corruption of the youth, but your president, it appears, was on trial for inciting a deadly insurrection against your U.S. Capitol.

Upon reading about the events that transpired on January 6, 2021, I have pondered and formulated my own opinion on the matter, and I will present them to you in a defense. First, I invite you to remember that importance lies not in the opinion of many, but rather in the opinion of good men. The opinion of the majority cannot be just if it is not true, for “truth is the ultimate standard of justice” (LaVaque-Manty, lecture 3a), so listen attentively.

I urge you to consider the circumstances in which Donald Trump became president. He did so under the understanding of your Constitution, laws, and general principles confining your nation. He stood before the nation, his hand upon the book of his god, and took an oath to defend and protect the Constitution to the best of his ability as president. This promise, my friends, was direct and clear. The same is true regarding his decision to partake in the following election; he understood the rules, he was well aware of the election proceedings. In his term as president, he made no argument to alter the election proceedings or the fundamental principles of American democracy. He is a natural-born citizen, having lived in your nation all his life, and in doing so he has not agreed to endorse the laws and abide by them?

In inciting violence against his own country he not only has violated his oath to America to protect democracy, but he has violated the general law he as a citizen agreed to follow. He called upon his supporters to storm the capitol, claiming the election was stolen and that freedom was at stake. Is this not ironic, my friends? Did he not threaten the very freedom he thought was at stake in the attempt to circumvent the proceedings of election that every citizen agreed to? Did he not violate his sacred duty to protect the nation by placing violence and unconstitutional behavior at the nation’s very heart, towards its very politicians and citizens? O citizens of the United States, it is clear that Donald Trump has acted unjustly against your nation, and should be impeached.

However, my good friends, it is clear that the legal proceedings of your nation have failed. Those allegiant to your former president have protected him from the due punishment he deserved, allowing him to be acquitted when he so clearly acted unjustly. I ask you, does this opinion of the majority reflect the truth? How can an untruthful opinion be just? It is disheartening to see the skewed justice system of your nation that allows its leader to act unjustly with no repercussions. This, o citizens, is a time to present your case to your state and convince them that their commands are wrong, or else remain duly obeying them.

In my own trial, when placed in prison, I chose not to escape, out of avoidance of making the mistake that your former President did. I feared my fellow “patriotic citizens...cast[ing] an evil eye upon [me] as a subverter of the laws” (“Crito”). I understood the unjustness of the decision to violate the laws I agreed to and the nation that cared for me like a parent to a child. Your former president, it seems, did not ponder his decision as carefully as I did.

The hour of departure has arrived, and we go our ways. Which is better God only knows.

Socrates

*Author consulted Plato's Apology and Crito for this post