Saturday quick take: "Fighting" and Trump's impeachment defense

 Trump's defense team lied a lot, because of course they did, but they made one kinda-valid point.  That word, "fight."  Last month, when Twitter blocked Trump, I wrote this post explaining the complications, including the problematically ambiguous nature of the word, "fight."  And in fact, I pointed to the observation that Democrats use the word all the time.  It is used metaphorically all the time.  Hell, my undergrad advisor, Jack Pitney, wrote a book about the metaphor of politics as war, referencing Sun Tzu.  The Art of Political Warfare.  He then wrote one of the most brutal takedowns of Trump you can find-- Un-American: The Fake Patriotism of Donald J. Trump.

Of course, this is an impeachment trial, not a criminal trial.  The Senate doesn't have to indulge points of philosophical bullshit.  Instead, Senate Republicans will indulge Trump's cult-like followers and ignore reality, thereby guaranteeing that this kind of thing happens again.

Yay.