2024-10-26 05:17:00
“Shitty vice president”, “lazy”, “scum” or even “low IQ”… Every day, Donald Trump finds new offensive adjectives to describe his opponent in the race for the White House, Kamala Harris. The Democrat responded that “the ex-president dejected [ssai] It’s not really the presidential function. It is difficult to imagine such battles in France: “you do not have a monopoly on the heart”, an iconic phrase from Valéry Giscard d’Estaing to François Mitterrand.
In February 2008, Nicolas Sarkozy, then president, sparked controversy by replying “get out of here, you poor idiot” to a man who refused to shake his hand at the Agricultural Exhibition. But the former president was not addressing a political opponent and in 2016 he declared in his book that he had “lowered the presidential office” France for life. At home, Donald Trump’s outings therefore seem unimaginable. And many would be punishable by law.
The first of the amendments
But, across the Atlantic, there is an “American culture of freedom of expression, even a sacralization, which leads to the tolerance of incendiary speeches”, explains Kamel El Hilali, doctor of public law at the University of Paris-II Panthéon-Assas . Many Americans consider free speech one of the foundations of their country. It is also the first amendment to the United States Constitution, anticipating the second which sanctifies the right to bear arms.
Passed by Congress in 1791, it states: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or to abridge freedom of expression, of the press, or the right of citizens peaceably to assemble or to petition the Government for redress of grievances. » This amendment, designed to “protect individuals against the state and arbitrary government laws,” according to Kamel El Hilali, also protects political speech.
Protection of hate speech
“Donald Trump’s inflammatory speeches and insults are part of the campaign, and political speech is protected by the First Amendment. Candidates have the right to be rude or lie,” he explains. In the United States it is possible to insult your opponent without worrying, as long as this insult does not lead to a disturbance of public order. Likewise, unlike our country, the United States does not sanction hate speech, a peculiarity that has protected the actions of the Ku Klux Klan in particular.
In the Supreme Court decision Brandenburg v. Ohio, the country’s highest legal body has ruled that speech advocating unlawful conduct is protected by the First Amendment as long as it does not incite not “imminent illegal action.” Thus, “certain unbearable speech in France, such as an openly Nazi sign held in the middle of the street, would be considered to fall under freedom of expression in the United States,” explains Kamel El Hilali.
A man who “crosses all red lines”
The fact remains that, since Donald Trump’s arrival in American politics, the real estate magnate has energized the tradition of moderation historically associated with the country’s high offices. “Even though tolerance is quite strong, Donald Trump crosses all the red lines. Take advantage of legal vagueness,” continues Kamel El Hilali. Because if the Republican’s verbal violence certainly falls within a country that sanctifies freedom of expression, it nevertheless goes well beyond the limits of the law.
So why does the billionaire always or almost always get away with it? In almost ten years of political life, Donald Trump has only bothered with his invectives twice, if we exclude his seditious speech that led to the assault on the Capitol. In October 2023, he was fined $5,000 and then $10,000 for a derogatory post about a court employee who was trying him for financial fraud. Even more impressive, in January 2024, the former president was ordered to pay $83.3 million to E. Jean Carroll for defaming her. Found guilty of sexual assault against him, Donald Trump nevertheless continued to regularly define the former journalist as a liar.
“He can say anything”
To explain the meager judicial actions in the face of the Republican’s daily litany of insults, Kamel El Hilali evokes a “Trump effect”. “It’s difficult to imagine him in France but Donald Trump is a real star, he can say everything”, specifies the doctor of public law. In 2016, during the Republican primaries, the real estate mogul said: “I could shoot people on 5th Avenue and not lose a single vote. » «In essence, even if he doesn’t really shoot, he shoots with words and, in fact, nothing happens to him», slips Kamel El Hilali who adds that by being continually indignant, Donald Trump protects himself a little behind usury.
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“If all interested parties launched a battle before a judge to defend their rights, we would have to mobilize resources every four mornings,” he summarizes, adding that Kamala Harris could be accused of weakness if she turned to the courts to defend herself from her rival’s attacks. attacks. The vice president therefore has every interest in responding, with a little more height, of course, but like her opponent, on political rather than legal grounds.
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