By John F. Di Leo -
The standard definition of treason begins with betraying one’s country, in the service of either an enemy nation or an enemy philosophy… usually in wartime. But then, in some ways, we are always at war, especially today, with the stateless threats of international communism and islamofascist jihad, both of which can emanate from tiny cells instead of from national capitals.
To put it in context, let us consider one of the most famous hangings in American history: the hanging of Major John Andre on October 2, 1780.
A Wartime Offense
The nascent United States were at war with our mother country, and had been for years. The runup began in the 1760s, when King George III decided to pay his war debt by taxing and controlling the American colonies. From the Stamp Act to imposing martial law on Boston, and from the Boston Massacre to the battles of Lexington and Concord, our separation from our mother country had been in process for over 15 years, and British commanders were trying new tricks in hopes of bringing it to a conclusion.
In 1780, British General Henry Clinton appointed young John Andre as his chief of intelligence, and Major Andre got right to work.
Working partially through his past acquaintance with Peggy Shippen, the avaricious young wife of General Benedict Arnold, John André sought to switch Benedict Arnold’s allegiance from the American cause to that of the British.
Arnold had once been one of America’s most promising generals, but bad luck, bad temperament, and congressional infighting had hurt his career, despite General Washington’s attempts to support him in the face of popular complaints.
In 1780, rather than commanding in the field, Arnold was entrusted with commanding the fort known as West Point. Long before it became the seat of the great military academy we know today, West Point was an important fortress as it commanded the view up and down the Hudson River, and controlled the huge chains that rendered the Hudson either navigable or impassable.
Major André and his superior, General Henry Clinton, did not just want to turn the heart of General Arnold; they hoped to win this physical prize as well.
Through extensive negotiations over many months, John Andre and Benedict Arnold worked out a deal: in exchange for a sum of money and a commission on the British side, Arnold would arrange for the fortress to be undefended and available for capture by the British at the perfect moment: when it had hundreds of troops within its gates as immediate POWs, and while General Washington himself and his military family would be inside, reviewing the troops on a routine inspection.
To the great fortune of the Glorious Cause of American independence, John Andre was captured one September day, just before the planned turnover, while traveling behind enemy lines under an assumed name, in civilian clothes, bearing a passport issued by Benedict Arnold.
He was caught with the plans in his boot, all the evidence on his person. They had him dead to rights, thanks to the perceptive eyes of American guards, who sent word to General Washington and Colonel Hamilton immediately. They were unable to capture Arnold in time… but they did what had to be done: execute John Andre as a spy, within two weeks time.
John André, gallant to the end, placed the noose around his own neck, proud of his service to King and country. And on October 2, 1780, this talented 30-year-old British spymaster was executed.
Sad, but unavoidable: such are the ways of war.
The lesson for today, however, should focus more on Benedict Arnold’s treason then on John Andre’s spying. The spymaster should not get all the credit; Arnold was dissatisfied with the American experiment already, or he would hardly have been open to turning coat.
As sympathetic a character as Benedict Arnold was, what he had agreed to do that September was truly horrendous: not just to turn himself, but to dishonor his position by turning over the fort and all its occupants to the enemy. The men under his command, and his commanding general and his staff as well, had done him no wrong. Whatever his disagreements with Congress, whatever his dissatisfaction with the American spirit at that time, nothing could justify this crime against his detachment at West Point and the very forgiving General Washington himself.
Modern Times
Fast forward to modern times, as an impeachment looms over Washington, as it always does, and today’s House Democrats are trying to impeach President Trump, as they have attempted with every Republican president for generations.
The House Democrats are joining the clowncar of Democrat presidential candidates in accusing President Trump and his staff of treason… and they are right that the evidence in some of these cases contains aspects of treason… but that treason is not committed by the current president or his administration. President Trump is just revealing it.
The Mueller investigation, for example, accused President Trump’s campaign of colluding with Russia to affect our 2016 election, but not only proved him innocent of the charge, it revealed massive crimes of collusion between the Hillary Clinton campaign and rogue employees of the US Dept of Justice, running from paying English and Russian operatives to frame American citizens, to purposefully misrepresenting cases to the FISA court to violate the rights of US citizens.
As another example, the so-called Ukraine whistleblower call at the heart of the current impeachment inquiry, based on a phone call between our President Trump and Ukraine’s President Zelensky, concerned a clarification of US policy. Our former vice president, Joseph Biden, had pressured Ukraine’s former administration to terminate an investigation involving his son, Hunter Biden; President Trump just notified President Zelensky that America does not wish to tie their hands in rooting out corruption, and we would in fact like to work together, in the spirit of the FCPA and so many other anti-corruption and anti-bribery programs. The investigation is revealing the apparent sale of access, by the sons of both then-VP Joe Biden and then Secretary of State John Kerry, who have made millions as consultants in both Ukraine and Mainland China.
In another example, the Democrat inquiry includes a desperate attempt to use President Trump’s past tax returns to claim that he has been involved in corrupt foreign business dealings, they hope, involved in his exploration of a Russian hotel business opportunity. But while all signs point to these as having been perfectly normal negotiations, the situation cannot help but reveal the blatantly corrupt pay-to-play activities of the Obama administration, as detailed in Peter Schweizer’s expose, Clinton Cash. It was, after all, the Obama administration where timelines line up between foreign speaking fees to Bill Clinton and State Department waivers and authorizations when Hillary Clinton was Secretary.
What is treason?
If it is giving aid and comfort to the enemy, then it’s hard to beat the Obama administration’s midnight flights delivering pallets of foreign currency to the Iranian regime at a time when the Iranians were funding attacks on Americans and our allies.
If it is trading policy for money, then it’s hard to beat the Obama administration State department’s decision to sell 20% of America’s uranium reserves to Russian interests, immediately after the Russians paid Bill Clinton for a speech.
If it is undermining American foreign policy by supporting an enemy and hurting our friends, then it’s hard to beat the Obama administration’s decisions to support Hamas against our ally Bibi Netanyahu in Israel’s domestic elections, and the Obama administration’s work to thwart the Persian 2009 Green Movement that had attempted to weaken the mullahs and return Iran to modernity.
Again and again, when the word “treason” arises in Washington, we see that the proper response is just to hold up a mirror. Today’s Democrats, sadly, are masters only at projection. Whatever they accuse others of, they do themselves far more.
Oh, for the days when even treason was a thousand times more honorable than the modern version. I’ll take John Andre’s bitter, tormented client, the turncoat Benedict Arnold, over an administration that sells our nation out to the mullahs and the communists any day.
Copyright 2019 John F. Di Leo
John F Di Leo is a Chicagoland-based trade compliance manager, actor and writer. His columns are regularly found in Illinois Review. As an actor, he will be appearing this weekend only in a revival of the hilarious Oscar Wilde comedy of love and murder, “Lord Arthur Savile’s Crime,” in Mundelein, IL, which runs October 4 through 6.
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