#DershowitzLogic

Submission 4,319

Part of a series on Impeachment of President Donald Trump. [View Related Entries]

About

#DershowitzLogic is a hashtag used to mock an argument by President Donald Trump's lawyer Alan Dershowitz during the Senate impeachment trial in January 2020.

Origin

The earliest known usage of the hashtag was published nearly two years before the impeachment of President Trump. On May 2nd, 2018, Twitter user @ASnarkRangOut who tweeted about a defense of President Trump "Alan also said bloodstains on a sock found in O.J. Simpson's bedroom could not have been produced by splattering at the crime scene" (shown below).

Alan also said bloodstains on a sock found in O.J. Simpson's bedroom could not have been produced by splattering at the crime scene.#DershowitzLogic

— Alex Wauters (@ASnarkRangOut) May 2, 2018

On January 29th, Dershowitz argued at the Senate impeachment, "If a president does something which he believes will help him get elected in the public interest, that cannot be the kind of quid pro quo that results in impeachment" (shown below).

The first known tweet in reference to this statement was published that day by Twitter^[1] user @DeborahMagone, who wrote, "So if I sincerely and truly believe robbing the bank is in the National interest , it's ok? #dershowitzlogic" (shown below).

Spread

Over the next few hours, people continued to mock Dershowitz's line of defense. Twitter^[2] user @t_a_pierce compared the argument to President Nixon, receiving more than 3,600 likes an 1,600 retweets in less than 24 hours (shown below, left). Twitter^[3] user @maydaymindy9 tweeted, "Seriously can’t see how Harvard can keep Alan Dershowitz as a law professor he teaches corruption." The tweet received more than 3,300 likes and 960 retweets in less than 24 hours (shown below, center).

That day, U.S. Senator Brian Schatz tweeted,^[4] "Their arguments are getting more and more dangerous to the rule of the law and the constitutional order. It is enjoyable to make fun of #dershowitzlogic but it is essential that this crazy autocratic nonsense get swept out of the Senate chamber with pace and enthusiasm." the tweet received more than 3,100 likes and 795 retweets in less than 24 hours (shown below, right).

Dershowitz responded to the criticisms on Twitter.^[5]^[6] In a series of tweets, he wrote, "They characterized my argument as if I had said that if a president believes that his re-election was in the national interest, he can do anything. I said nothing like that, as anyone who actually heard what I said can attest […] I did not say or imply that a candidate could do anything to reassure his reelection, only that seeking help in an election is not necessarily corrupt, citing the Lincoln and Obama examples. Critics have an obligation to respond to what I said, not to create straw men to attack."

Several media outlets covered the argument and response and reaction, including Politico,^[7] USA Today,^[8] NBC,^[9] The Daily Dot ^[10] and more.