Was he calling for a fight, or was he calling for a “fight”? In American political speech — and particularly in Donald Trump’s impeachment trial and the discussions around it — words matter.
But beyond that is another axiom: Context, it seems, can be everything. Yes, Trump used pointed, intense words that aroused supporters’ emotions.
Yes, he deployed the notion of battle as potent political metaphor. Yes — he might have gone too far for some. His attorneys acknowledged all of that during their combative defense at his impeachment trial Friday.
But what the 45th president didn’t do on that day in January, when he stood near the White House and used the words “fight” or “fighting” 20 times as he tried to overturn a legitimate election was