Arwa Mahdawi: ‘Let’s get a grip, shall we? This wasn’t a show trial’

When I saw the video of people chanting “lock him up” at the World Series I thought: ha. And then I moved on with my life. Sadly, others did not. Despite the fact America is supposed to be a democracy where free speech is sacrosanct, the incident sparked pearl-clutching among pundits and politicians who seem to think chanting represents a dire threat to the very soul of America. The Democratic senator Chris Coons, for example, said it reminded him “of things that happen in countries where rule of law is unknown or unestablished”.

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Let’s get a grip, shall we? This wasn’t a show trial. It wasn’t an AR-15-wielding mob. It wasn’t a threat to due process. It was a group of people spontaneously expressing frustration that the president of America hasn’t been held properly accountable for any of the many crimes he has been accused of – from sexual assault to election-meddling – and openly boasts about being above the law. Only a few days earlier one of Trump’s lawyers argued he could not be investigated by local authorities in office even if he murdered someone on Fifth Avenue. You know what reminds me of countries where the rule of law is unknown? A head of state who thinks he has carte blanche. Not a few chants.

But what about all the “lock her up” chants? some people have argued. You hypocritical libs were outraged about that. On Monday, for example, NBC’s Joe Scarborough snarkily tweeted: “Let’s see if I’ve got this straight. When crowds chant ‘Lock her up’ toward Hillary, it is illiberal and anti-American. (I agree). But when crowds chant the same toward Trump, it is suddenly a fulsome exercise of sacred first amendment rights.”

No, Joe, you haven’t got it straight. There is a big difference between people in a baseball stadium spontaneously chanting and politicians stirring crowds at rallies up into a frenzy of rage over unfounded accusations. Had Joe Biden or Hillary Clinton been encouraging the stadium to protest you might have a point. But unless there’s some secret Clinton plot I don’t know about that wasn’t the case.

As for all the people complaining about how this is yet another example of the erosion of civility in America: please get your effing priorities right.

Arwa Mahdawi is a Guardian columnist

Lloyd Green: ‘Lock him up’ is a demand for mob justice

On Sunday night, Donald Trump received a dose of his own medicine. After being introduced at game three of baseball’s World Series, the crowd booed the president, and then launched into a chant of “lock him up”.

With Melania by his side, Trump finally heard first-hand what much of blue America thought of the vulgarian-in-chief. Make no mistake, Trump had definitely earned the fans’ disgust and ire. Turnabout is fair play, to a point.

During Barack Obama’s presidency, Trump had fanned the flames of birtherism. On the 2016 campaign trail, Trump had mocked a reporter for being disabled, trashed a federal judge for being Latino, and repeatedly delivered a verbal beatdown to the now late senator John McCain for having been a prisoner of war. Grace was never part of Trump’s vocabulary or mien.

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But most memorably, it was Trump who would lead his minions in the cry of “lock her up” – even after he was ensconced in the Oval Office. The past was never past.

Due process was for his supporters, not his political opponents. Indeed, Trump saw them as his enemies. The bile that Trump vented on stage was no act but rather the core of his DNA.

And yet that can only be part of the story. Although Trump has debased the presidency as he conflated the office with himself, his opponents – of which there are many and whose disdain in more than justified – need to think long and hard about echoing the very line that had rendered Trump unfit to hold and keep his current job.

“Lock him up” is more than a sentiment. Rather, it is a demand for mob justice, one at odds with the rule of law, qualitatively different from simply voicing disapproval.

To be sure, politicians get booed at ballgames. Presidents Herbert Hoover and Harry Truman were on the receiving end in their day.

By contrast, a demand for instant imprisonment of our government officials is not what democracies are about. We remain defined by our processes despite their seeming inconvenience.

This coming Thursday, the House of Representatives will take up a resolution to guide its impeachment investigation, a process a federal judge last Friday found to be constitutionally valid and legally compliant.

“Lock him up” got Trump’s attention. But it’s no substitute for the work that remains to be done.