Debs “was viewed by his supporters as a martyr, and the Socialist Party did not trust the mainstream media of 1920,” the professor added. “It’s an interesting parallel,” said David Stebenne, a professor of history and law at Ohio State University. And I just happen to be the person that’s in the way,” he said at a recent rally in Texas.ĭebs, too, argued that he was taking the fall because his political movement threatened the entrenched political elites. “In reality, they’re not after me, they’re after you. Trump - who famously said he could shoot someone on Fifth Avenue and not lose a single vote - is already trying to convince his supporters that they’re the ones under attack. Indeed, some of the memes of Trump circulating on social media - including a mock-up of a Trump booking mugshot that was never taken - look much like lapel buttons that circulated during Debs’ 1920 campaign showing photos of him along with his federal prisoner number. … You can imagine Trump doing the same thing.” … He might have gotten more publicity running from prison. “They held rallies all over the country with a prison picture of Debs on the picket signs. “They basically used his imprisonment to say he was a victim of the Red Scare and viewed it as a kind of badge of honor,” said Peter Dreier, a politics professor at Occidental College. Just as Trump portrays the array of legal challenges he faces as political persecution, Debs and his allies tried to use his legal woes as a rallying cry that would propel his presidential candidacy. Still, the two firebrands have a surprising amount in common. Some might also view the comparison as unfair to Debs, who is seen by many in the labor and anti-war movements as a hero. The comparison to Debs might not appeal to Trump, who is fond of railing against socialists (or people he labels socialists). “I don’t think we have an answer to this.” Trump and Debs, unlikely bedfellows “Then we’re just going to get into uncharted waters,” Seton Hall law professor Eugene Mazo said. And if Trump were convicted of a federal crime, he could even try to pardon himself immediately upon taking office - a maneuver that Debs himself promised to undertake if he won. But three other ongoing criminal investigations of Trump - one in Georgia for election interference and two from special counsel Jack Smith in Washington - could trigger more serious felony charges and carry a higher risk of prison.Ī Trump electoral victory from behind bars would open a constitutional can of worms, but the general view among legal scholars is that the need for a duly elected president to fulfill the duties of office would override a criminal conviction and require the sentence to at least be put on hold. Many experts contend that even if Trump is convicted, he is unlikely to see prison time because judges rarely sentence first-time offenders to prison for that type of felony. He has been indicted in New York for falsifying business records, a state crime that carries a maximum four years in prison when charged as a felony. Trump’s escalating legal troubles are resurrecting that question. Debs (pictured) became the Socialist Party nominee while serving a 10-year federal sentence for urging people to resist the World War I draft.
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