Professor Larson: 'Treason' meaning muddled during Trump presidency

Professor Carlton F.W. Larson talked to Steve Goldstein of Phoenix public radio station KJZZ about misuse of the term “treason” during the Donald Trump presidency.

The Constitution narrowly defines treason as levying war against the United States or giving aid and comfort to its enemies. But “a lot of times ‘treason’ is used in a rhetorical manner just to generally mean the person has been disloyal,” Larson said.

This use of the term has spread during the Trump administration, with Trump’s critics accusing him of treason for some of his actions. Trump himself also “uses the term quite loosely,” Larson told Goldstein.

Trump tweeted “Treason?” after the New York Times ran an anonymous op-ed, which the Times attributed to a senior administration official, describing the president as inept. But “it was not just this claim against the New York Times editorial author,” Larson told Goldstein. “He made the same statement about Democrats who didn’t applaud him during the ‘State of the Union’ address.”

Professor Larson is one of the nation’s leading authorities on the law of treason and is the author of the forthcoming book The Trials of Allegiance: Treason, Juries, and the American Revolution (Oxford University Press).