The president of the United States addressed the rally on January 6th which was not a mob at the time. He did not call for violence. He exhorted them to “Stop the Steal” telling them” We will never give up. We will never concede.” This is called “Direction by Indirection” in law.

This is a situation paralleled by Henry II in his struggle with Thomas Beckett. “Will no one rid me of this troublesome priest?” is not a call for violence in a direct sense.

A short time ago we talked of “putting people to the sword” or “heads will roll” meaning to fire people.

If one were not addressing a massive rally, such language might be seen as colloquial hyperbole. But when you exhort people to the Capitol to “stop the steal” of a US election, context matters. The courts did not support the challenge. This was’t hyperbole. Context is all here.

In this context, the President yet again used the technique of plausible deniability via the principle of “Direction by Indirection”. He as addressing a massive rally near the Capitol. For some reason the partisan BS, colloquial speech and the context are obscuring what happened.

To see what happened:

A) Subtract the abysmal behavior of the Democratic Party in the modern era. They are horrible. So what?

B) Place the President in the context of a real life massive rally Context is everything.

C) See the colloquial as layering indirection over direction.