Trump is a traitor and supporting traitors carries the death penalty.

OPINION
How do Trump's extraordinary betrayals stand up against history? He could
be the worst.
Putting Trump in context is the best way to highlight and understand his
betrayals. History is the highest court, and its verdict can't be
appealed.
David Rothkopf
Opinion columnist

It is not a small thing to call the president of the United States a
traitor. But it is an even greater offense to fail to call him one if he
has betrayed his country as often and as egregiously as Donald Trump has
done.

As the depth of Trump�s active collaboration with Russia became clear in
2016 and 2017, as he was revealed to be surrounded by men who were
compromised by their ties to Russia, as he orchestrated a cover-up of his
wrongdoing, fired and impeded those who would investigate it and serially
rewarded Russia for its efforts on his behalf, it was not uncommon to hear
critics apply strong labels to what the president had done. Trump himself
has applied the word "treason" almost casually to his political enemies.

But treason is very narrowly defined by the Constitution. Article III
specifies, �Treason against the United States, shall consist only in
levying war against them, or in adhering to their enemies, giving them aid
and comfort.� While it is undoubtedly true that Trump has adhered to a
foreign adversary, Russia, and has given it much aid and comfort, the
courts have determined that an enemy can only be a country against which
we have declared war. That is an antiquated idea in a time during which
undeclared wars are far more common and cyber conflict, for example, may
be an almost permanent feature of an international relationship. But it is
binding.
Trump has repeatedly betrayed US

That said, the dictionary definition of a traitor is �a person who betrays
a friend, country or principle.� There is no doubt that Trump has betrayed
the country time and time again. It is a matter of public record that he
encouraged our Russian adversaries to become involved in the 2016
election. When the intelligence community provided evidence of the threat
posed by Russia, we saw Trump dismiss it, ignore it, fail in his duty to
�preserve, protect and defend.�

We have seen him use the power of his office to reward and celebrate the
Russians and to condemn Americans in the CIA and the FBI and elsewhere who
would seek to impede the Russian attacks on our democracy. We have watched
him undermine the rule of law in the United States and alter U.S. policy
in ways that empowered the Russians and, specifically, enabled them to
interfere yet again in our elections.

Relentless adversary:Russia never stopped trying to sway elections and sow
mistrust. Best thing to do is vote.

The Russia betrayal is the original sin of the Trump presidency. And since
Russian President Vladimir Putin helped Trump win office, not a week has
gone by that we have not been confronted by its consequences � attacks on
our allies, classified information handed over in the Oval Office, hacks
put atop the intelligence community to suppress warnings about Russia,
messages from the president validating Putin propaganda over the findings
of U.S. national security professionals, embracing Russian positions on
issues like Ukraine, giving Russia a free hand in Syria, pulling out of
the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty in a way to give Russia more
freedom to develop its defenses.

Investigations into this betrayal have been quashed. But the facts � close
ties between Trump and his team with Russians and (in the case of people
like Paul Manafort and Rudy Giuliani) direct interaction with known
Russian intelligence operatives � have been established.
Cover of 'Traitor: A History of American Betrayal From Benedict Arnold to
Donald Trump,' by David Rothkopf, published Oct. 27, 2020.

There have been other betrayals, of course: Rewarding foreign despots who
might benefit Trump businesses. Every corrupt act of placing self-interest
ahead of the national interest. Seeking to pressure Ukrainians into
helping defeat a potential political adversary, the act that led to
Trump�s impeachment. Placing personal political fortunes ahead of the
lives and well-being of hundreds of thousands of Americans, now victims of
the COVID-19 catastrophe.

Trump has betrayed the country again and again. And there has been a
massive effort by him and his political allies to quash this truth, to
cloud perceptions with disinformation, to claim critical elements of it
were a hoax. To defend the country, to ensure the survival of our
democracy and to ultimately undo the damage Trump and Putin and their
enablers and cronies have done, it was essential that the facts be brought
to light.

But how could that be done in a way that would stand up to scrutiny and
stand out amidst the daily outrages of the Trump presidency? As a
historian and a student of the presidency and of power, I know that
history is the highest court, that its jurisdiction knows no boundaries
and that its final verdict cannot be appealed. Further, I understood that
it was essential not to allow Trump�s serial betrayals to become somehow
�normalized� or devalued in the acid back and forth of our daily political
debate.
Trump in historical context

The best way to convey the extraordinary nature of Trump�s abuses and the
damage he has done is to let the facts speak for themselves against the
backdrop of history. It is essential to objectively ask, how do his acts
compare with those who have come before him? Where does he stand alongside
Benedict Arnold, Aaron Burr, Jefferson Davis, John Brown, the Rosenbergs,
Aldrich Ames, Robert Hanssen?

Each of their stories is different (Brown, convicted and hanged for
treason, was a mistreated hero; Arnold was an American war hero before he
became our most notorious traitor). But by placing Trump among them, as I
have done in my new book, �Traitor: A History of American Betrayal from
Benedict Arnold to Donald Trump,� we can see what he has done in context,
dispassionately, set apart from the spin and the apologists.

Retired Marine generals:Trump's dangerous isolationism weakens America and
strengthens our adversaries

The 2020 election presents us with an existential choice. If we reelect
this wannabe authoritarian, this puppet of foreign autocrats, he and they
will be not just validated but empowered. Whatever Trump�s motivation, we
have seen him remake our judiciary and undermine our system of justice. He
has degraded America on the global stage and profoundly weakened us.

All that is the price of his betrayals to date. Should he be given four
more years to carry them forward, our democracy might never recover. We
must see him for the traitor he is and see that because of the high office
he held and his complete absence of character or care for the country, he
may well be the worst of all those who have betrayed America in the past.

David Rothkopf (@djrothkopf) is host of "Deep State Radio" and CEO of the
Rothkopf Group media and podcasting company. His new book, "Traitor: A
History of American Betrayal from Benedict Arnold to Donald Trump," is out
Tuesday.