Members of the House committee that investigated the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol have warned America for three years to take former President Donald Trump at his word.
Now, as Trump is poised to win the Republican presidential nomination, his criminal trials face delays that could stall them past Election Day, and his rhetoric grows increasingly authoritarian, some of those lawmakers find themselves following their own advice.
In mid-March, Trump said on social media that the committee members should be jailed. In December he vowed to be a dictator on “day one.” In August, he said he would “have no choice” but to lock up his political opponents.
“If he intends to eliminate our constitutional system and start arresting his political enemies, I guess I would be on that list,” said Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-San Jose). “One thing I did learn on the committee is to pay attention and listen to what Trump says, because he means it.”
Lofgren added that she doesn’t yet have a plan in place to thwart potential retribution by Trump. But Rep. Adam B. Schiff (D-Burbank), who has long been a burr in Trump’s side, said he’s having “real-time conversations” with his staff about how to make sure he stays safe if Trump follows through on his threats.
“We’re taking this seriously, because we have to,” Schiff said. “We’ve seen this movie before … and how perilous it is to ignore what someone is saying when they say they want to be a dictator.”
Fallacy fallacy dude. “Strawman” is not some magic word that makes criticisms of your argument disappear. The point of recognizing fallacies is that it makes them easy to rebut, not that if you say the right magic phrase your critics disappear.
In the case of a supposed Strawman fallacy it’s not enough to say “Strawman” and plug your ears. If you believe your argument is being misrepresented you restate what your actual argument is. So far you haven’t presented any argument for “all politicians have definitely done crimes” other than your assumptions that it is true. Me pointing out your Begging the Point and Appeal to Popularity is not a Strawman.
Straw man arguments are literally what you’re doing. You invent an argument that has nothing to do with the point I’m making and then try to derail the discussion using it. The most hilarious part is that you just can’t let this go. Since it’s pretty clear this discussion has run its course, I’m going to move on and let you have the last word that you so desperately need. Enjoy feeling like you’ve won and online argument.