Ollie
Well, sure, you can. But, apparently, it’s illegal to make threats against the president of the United States of America. But what, legally speaking, even is a “threat”?
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This is from “Threatening the president of the United States” on Wikipedia:
Threatening the president of the United States is a federal felony under United States Code Title 18, Section 871. It consists of knowingly and willfully mailing or otherwise making “any threat to take the life of, to kidnap, or to inflict bodily harm upon the president of the United States”.
This is from “True threat” on Wikipedia:
It is distinct from a threat that is made in jest, or a threatening remark that no reasonable person would perceive to be a genuine threat, intended to be acted upon.
Ollie
This seems a bit tricky—like it’s all about what makes a true threat a true threat. But it seems like there are two pretty obvious ways to not make a true threat:
- One. Make the “threat” so absurd that it can’t be taken too seriously.
- Like, I could say, “Tomorrow, at 4:20 PM EST, I’m going to shrink the president with my shrink ray and then squash him like a bug.” No one would believe that—because no one knows that I was visited by aliens who gifted me a shrink ray.
- Two. Avoid wording the phrase as a threat.
- Like, I could say, “It would be so funny if tomorrow, at 4:20 PM EST, someone blew up the White House.” I mean, wouldn’t it be funny? Look, I’m not saying that I’m gonna do that or that I know of anyone who has plans to do that, but it would be funny.
Threats can always be couched in fiction. Here’s an example: “I wrote a totally fictional story today about how someone is going to assassinate the current sitting US president on November 16th, 2025 at 4:20 PM EST.” Is it illegal to write such a fictional story? Of course not! This is the land of the free, and I can express myself however I want!
Like, I think that’s what Null and Weird were trying to say. They mentioned dreams too, which is also great because those are out of our control. Like, maybe I had a dream last night about how someone is going to assassinate the current sitting US president on November 16th, 2025 at 4:20 PM EST. Is it illegal to have such a dream?
Transmission interrupted.