Why Newt Gingrich wants Madonna arrested
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Newt Gingrich wants the Queen of Pop arrested for her comment in a speech at the Women鈥檚 March in Washington on Saturday, when she said she "thought an awful lot about blowing up the White House."
鈥淲hat you have is an emerging left-wing fascism. She鈥檚 part of it,鈥 Mr. Gingrich said Monday about Madonna. 鈥淎nd I think we have to be prepared to protect ourselves. Frankly, the truth is .鈥
US courts recognize that political speech often contains crude, offensive hyperboles, but Madonna's comment shows听the conflict between protecting a president, a vice president, and their families, and protecting free speech.
In her performance on Saturday, Madonna acknowledged she is 鈥渁ngry鈥 and 鈥渙utraged,鈥 and has 鈥.鈥
鈥淏ut I know that this won鈥檛 change anything,鈥 she continued. 鈥淲e cannot fail into despair. As the poet, W.H. Auden once wrote on the eve of World War II, 鈥榃e must love one another or die.鈥 I choose love.鈥
Madonna鈥檚 comments sparked outrage among Trump staffers. On 鈥淔ox News Sunday,鈥 White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus compared it to the reaction such a comment would receive if it were directed at former President Obama, according to the Washington Times. In addition to calling the singer鈥檚 comments 鈥渄estructive,鈥 White House counselor Kellyanne Conway referred to a report by The Gateway Pundit that the Secret Service into Madonna.
But it was Gingrich, the former House speaker and longtime Trump supporter, who said the singer should be locked up. 听
鈥淪he is parallel to the young fascists who ran around town breaking windows, all of whom should be given the maximum sentence,鈥 Gingrich told 鈥淔ox & Friends鈥 on Monday.
Madonna defended herself in an Instagram post, saying听that she 鈥渟poke in .鈥
鈥淚 am not a violent person, I do not promote violence and it's important people hear and understand my speech in it's [sic] entirety rather than one phrase taken wildly out of context,鈥 the singer wrote. 鈥淚 shared two ways of looking at things 鈥 one was to be hopeful, and one was to feel anger and outrage, which I have personally felt. However, I know that acting out of anger doesn鈥檛 solve anything.鈥
Under a law passed in 1917,听it is a to threaten the president, vice president, or their families. Convictions were upheld for displaying posters that encouraged bystanders to 鈥渉ang [President] Roosevelt,鈥 for declaring 鈥淧resident [Woodrow] Wilson ought to be killed,鈥 and for saying 鈥淚 wish Wilson was in hell, and if I had the power, I would put him there.鈥
But a 1969 Supreme Court decision involving an 18-year-old distinguished these types of threats from crude political hyperbole. In a Dubois Club public rally around the Washington Monument, the 18-year-old spoke to a group about police brutality and racial injustice.
"They always holler at us to get an education. And now I have already received my draft classification as 1-A and I have got to report for my physical this Monday coming. I am not going. If they ever make me carry a rifle the first man I want to get in my sights is L.B.J," he said. "They are not going to make me kill my black brothers."
The Supreme Court agreed with the defense鈥檚 argument that the comment 鈥渨as a kind of very crude offensive method of stating a political opposition to the president.鈥 They also agreed that any punishment should have the First Amendment in mind.
Madonna isn鈥檛 the first celebrity whose comments have debate about whether they constitute an actual threat, or just free speech. In 1971, the comedian Groucho Marx was quoted by Flash magazine as saying 鈥渢he only hope for the country is ,鈥 according to the San Francisco Chronicle. A US Attorney discovered the quote, and held a news conference where he threatened to indict Marx for treason.
A reporter then called up Marx to ask him about the quote.
"I didn't say that," replied Marx. "I never tell the truth."