Former President Donald Trump ‘ReTruthed’ a post by MAGA favorite DC_Draino that suggests Twitter — before it was owned by Elon Musk and renamed X — purposely deleted one of the then-President’s January 6 tweets in order to “frame him for their narrative.”
Part of the idea DC_Draino presents is that Trump was considering invoking the Insurrection Act on the day of the Capitol riots, but that Twitter’s action prevented him from doing so. The account asks provocatively “What if they were trying to limit his ability to activate the Insurrection Act?”
[NOTE: The Insurrection Act allows the president to deploy the military domestically and use it for civilian law enforcement.]
At the core of Trump’s assertion that Twitter actually had the power to interfere with the president’s power is the false premise that an invocation of the Insurrection Act requires that a “dispersal request precede the calling forth of troops.” DC_Draino suggests that Twitter’s action foiled that dispersal request, thereby denying Trump the ability to proceed.
But as “SCOTUS nerd” and Texas Law Professor Steve Vladeck points out, responding to journalist Kyle Cheney‘s post about Trump’s latest “nonsense” idea: “This cockamamie new theory depends upon a factually incorrect understanding of what it takes to trigger the Insurrection Act. Congress removed the (original statutory) requirement that a dispersal request *precede* the calling forth of troops in …1795.”
This cockamamie new theory depends upon a factually incorrect understanding of what it takes to trigger the Insurrection Act.
— Steve Vladeck (@steve_vladeck) December 31, 2023
Congress removed the (original statutory) requirement that a dispersal request *precede* the calling forth of troops in … 1795:https://t.co/9zZ2tjMZFl https://t.co/qyV3s3Woz2
It remains unknown whether Trump ever considered invoking the Insurrection Act on January 6, though there is wide belief that doing so would have triggered his supporters and groups like the Oath Keepers who played a role in the Capitol riots.
Cheney makes another seemingly self-evident point about an American president’s available communication tools, which are virtually limitless — and certainly not limited to Twitter. “For one thing,” Cheney writes, “the president doesn’t need Twitter to be able to issue a public warning.”
For one thing: The president doesn’t need Twitter to be able to issue a public warning. He also has repeatedly insisted he gave all necessary authority to DoD and Sec. Miller days earlier.
— Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney) December 31, 2023
There’s also precisely zero known evidence this entered his mind on Jan. 6.
