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LOS ANGELES, CA: An LA-based left-wing podcaster has reportedly discovered the exciting limits of free speech after FBI agents showed up at his Westlake home to arrest him for allegedly threatening to kill President Donald Trump.
Azariah Southworth, 40, a gay Christian podcast host, was detained after allegedly making repeated threats against the president and stalking Trump's personal lawyer and the lawyer's family, according to the New York Post.
Apparently, Southworth had been operating under the increasingly popular California legal theory that anything can be considered protected speech as long as you say "free speech" loudly enough.
According to court documents, Southworth posted a video on Instagram on April 7 in which he declared, “I have been vocal in calling for the execution of Donald Trump. This government is illegitimate and out of control. It’s time for course correction. Kill Donald Trump."
Authorities apparently interpreted this less as a nuanced commentary on constitutional government and more as a threat, which is the correct interpretation if you understand English.
As police took him away, Southworth reportedly continued expressing his political opinions by yelling, “Donald Trump is a pedophile! The country has fallen!” Chances are Southworth is merely projecting.
Prosecutors said Southworth had called for Trump's assassination multiple times, both publicly and privately.
In a January text conversation with an associate, Southworth allegedly wrote, “If I encounter any Trump official in-person, I’m seriously afraid I will end up in Jail,” before immediately demonstrating an impressive lack of confidence in his own prediction.
“But if I could Kill him, I wouldn’t waste the opportunity," he added.
“I want to funnel this rage into street art. That’s my plan,” he continued. “But GOD I want that motherf*cker and his minions dead.”
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| Trump's minions |
“I want to practice my free speech as a survivor of conversion therapy for five years,” he said in a video in March. “Kill Donald Trump. Kill that mothef*cking pedophile in the White House. Kill that traitor of the United States Constitution.”
The phrase "free speech" was reportedly invoked so frequently that somewhere, an actual First Amendment attorney quietly developed a migraine.
Then, in April, Southworth allegedly posted another video depicting himself teleporting into the White House behind Trump while raising a knife as though preparing to stab the president.
Southworth had apparently anticipated that his increasingly specific calls for the president's execution might eventually attract the attention of federal law enforcement.
On Instagram, he previously posted a statement to followers explaining what he believed might happen if he were arrested.
“I am making this video today in the event of my arrest. It has been a long-held belief that calling for the execution of the president of The United States will get you put on a list or arrested,” he said. “I have friends who are concerned this will happen to me as I have been vocal in calling for the execution of Donald Trump.”
It turns out his friends may have been onto something.
“It’s time for course correction,” he added.
“Kill Donald Trump.”
And thus concludes another fascinating chapter in the ongoing American experiment in which people discover that the First Amendment protects an astonishing amount of speech, but apparently does not come with a complimentary federal immunity package.
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