Too Bigly to Jail

The former president/74-year-old toddler spent the past few days sending petulant letters to organizations that kicked him out (“You can’t fire me! I quit!”) or stopped selling products peddled by his ghoulish buddy who was bent on using his pillow to smother democracy. The letters demonstrate the caliber of writing you would expect from someone who incessantly boasts about graduating first in his class from Wharton but threatens to sue his alma mater if they release his academic records. His semiliterate musings are unimportant. It is the insignia on his letterhead shown below that deserves our attention.

This is a mishmash of the Seal of the President of the United States (left) and the obverse side of the Great Seal of the United States (right) reproduced below.

A former president using the confusingly similar insignia created by Trump would be, at best, a gray area in terms of his right to use it. When he uses it to give his letters gravitas and the semblance of official governmental authority, it becomes a problem. When he uses it immediately after challenging an election he lost, held a rally to “Stop the Steal,” stating unequivocally that the election was a fraud and was stolen from him and incites a crowd to storm the U.S. Capitol Building to stop the certification of the person who beat him — inaction is no longer an option.

This is a person who believes and led countless others to believe that the current president is a usurper and does not have legitimate authority to exercise the powers of President of the United States. In the rare instances that his false and ridiculous statements are challenged, his go-to argument is to claim that he was kidding. Tell that to the dead. Tell it to the angry mob he incited. Tell it to the traumatized members of congress who feared for their lives. Tell it to the police and security guards who put themselves between the angry mob he unleashed and the targets of their rage. There are certain rights that you give up after you leave office. Then there are the rights you give up when you commit a crime.

There is a law specifically directed to Trump’s improper use of the insignia.

18 U.S.C. § 713 Use of likenesses of the great seal of the United States, the seals of the President and Vice President, the seal of the United States Senate, the seal of the United States House of Representatives, and the seal of the United States Congress:

(a)Whoever knowingly displays any printed or other likeness of the great seal of the United States, or of the seals of the President or the Vice President of the United States, or the seal of the United States Senate, or the seal of the United States House of Representatives, or the seal of the United States Congress, or any facsimile thereof, in, or in connection with, any advertisement, poster, circular, book, pamphlet, or other publication, public meeting, play, motion picture, telecast, or other production, or on any building, monument, or stationery, for the purpose of conveying, or in a manner reasonably calculated to convey, a false impression of sponsorship or approval by the Government of the United States or by any department, agency, or instrumentality thereof, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than six months, or both.

(Emphasis added).

The statute also provides guidance as to how the suit can be raised:

(f)A violation of the provisions of this section may be enjoined at the suit of the Attorney General,
(1)in the case of the great seal of the United States and the seals of the President and Vice President, upon complaint by any authorized representative of any department or agency of the United States…

In the meantime, Trump is free to use the insignia below that is actually a more accurate summary of his years in office. The really sad part is that he unintentionally already used it when he gave an address with this very insignia in the background as he delivered his verbal diarrhea on June 23, 2019. And not one member of his staff noticed.

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