{"id":145200,"date":"2026-03-02T16:11:34","date_gmt":"2026-03-03T00:11:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2026\/03\/02\/standing-up-and-cheering-for-american-ish-principles\/"},"modified":"2026-03-02T16:11:34","modified_gmt":"2026-03-03T00:11:34","slug":"standing-up-and-cheering-for-american-ish-principles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2026\/03\/02\/standing-up-and-cheering-for-american-ish-principles\/","title":{"rendered":"Standing Up And Cheering For American-ish Principles"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
(Photo by Win McNamee\/Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

During his State of the Union address, Donald Trump thought he was being clever.\u00a0 He\u00a0challenged<\/a>\u00a0the Democrats in the chamber: \u201cIf you agree with this statement, then stand up and show your support:\u00a0The first duty of the American government is to protect American citizens, not illegal aliens.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Needless to say, Democrats did not stand up and show their support.<\/p>\n

Stephen Miller, the White House deputy chief of staff,\u00a0cheered<\/a>\u00a0Trump\u2019s challenge.\u00a0He posted on X after Trump\u2019s speech: \u201cThe entire Democrat Party disqualified itself from government service in this one exchange. Nothing like it in U.S. history.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nothing like it in U.S. history.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Sure glad I didn\u2019t miss it.<\/p>\n

Any sentient human being of course realizes that Trump\u2019s stunt was actually not very clever. This type of challenge simply requires posing a seemingly rhetorical question that demands more than a one-word response.\u00a0You can\u2019t answer \u201cyes\u201d or \u201cno,\u201d because the question calls for more.\u00a0You can\u2019t either stand up and cheer or sit quietly.\u00a0You must explain.<\/p>\n

To understand this, put the shoe on a Republican foot:\u00a0\u201cIf you agree with this statement, Republicans, then stand up and show your support:\u00a0The first duty of the Supreme Court is to uphold the United States Constitution, even against a president\u2019s attempt to impose illegal tariffs.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hmmm.\u00a0That requires more than either standing up and cheering or remaining seated. Republicans might want, for example, to discuss the propriety of Trump\u2019s tariffs, or say something else, to put the question into context.<\/p>\n

So, too, Democrats might have wanted to talk about whether it\u2019s the first duty of the government to protect American citizens against illegal aliens, even if that means sending masked troops into American cities and occasionally killing innocent American citizens.<\/p>\n

Now that we\u2019re playing this game, I have a few other questions to pose to Republicans.\u00a0No discussion, now.\u00a0Either stand up and cheer or remain seated:<\/p>\n

The first duty of American customs and immigration enforcement personnel is to protect American citizens, not to kill them.<\/p>\n

The first duty of young people in the United States called to serve their country is to answer patriotically, not to evade the draft by ginning up supposed bone spurs.<\/p>\n

The first duty of the president is to avoid political violence, not to incite a crowd to attack the Capitol Building and later to pardon those involved in the attack.<\/p>\n

America\u2019s first duty is to stand by our allies in times of need, not to threaten to take over Canada or Greenland.<\/p>\n

The first duty of high-ranking American officials is to protect America\u2019s secrets, not to post them on Signal chat groups that include editors of magazines.<\/p>\n

The first duty of the Department of Health and Human Services is to protect Americans from illness, not to discourage them from taking life-saving vaccines.<\/p>\n

The first duty of the Executive Branch is to ensure that justice is blind, not to prosecute your political enemies.<\/p>\n

Are you starting to get the idea?<\/p>\n

For Trump to think this was clever, and for Miller to think it disqualifies all Democrats from public service, is not quite correct.<\/p>\n

In fact, one might say that the first duty of an American president is to speak the truth, whenever possible, to the American people, not to intentionally mislead them for no reason whatsoever.<\/p>\n

Care to stand up and cheer?\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n

Mark\u00a0Herrmann\u00a0spent 17 years as a partner at a leading international law firm and later oversaw litigation, compliance and employment matters at a large international company. He is the author of\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>The Curmudgeon\u2019s Guide to Practicing Law<\/em><\/strong><\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>Drug and Device Product Liability Litigation Strategy<\/em><\/strong><\/a>\u00a0(affiliate links). You can reach him by email at\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>inhouse@abovethelaw.com<\/em><\/strong><\/a>.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The post Standing Up And Cheering For American-ish Principles<\/a> appeared first on Above the Law<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"
(Photo by Win McNamee\/Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

During his State of the Union address, Donald Trump thought he was being clever.\u00a0 He\u00a0challenged<\/a>\u00a0the Democrats in the chamber: \u201cIf you agree with this statement, then stand up and show your support:\u00a0The first duty of the American government is to protect American citizens, not illegal aliens.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Needless to say, Democrats did not stand up and show their support.<\/p>\n

Stephen Miller, the White House deputy chief of staff,\u00a0cheered<\/a>\u00a0Trump\u2019s challenge.\u00a0He posted on X after Trump\u2019s speech: \u201cThe entire Democrat Party disqualified itself from government service in this one exchange. Nothing like it in U.S. history.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nothing like it in U.S. history.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Sure glad I didn\u2019t miss it.<\/p>\n

Any sentient human being of course realizes that Trump\u2019s stunt was actually not very clever. This type of challenge simply requires posing a seemingly rhetorical question that demands more than a one-word response.\u00a0You can\u2019t answer \u201cyes\u201d or \u201cno,\u201d because the question calls for more.\u00a0You can\u2019t either stand up and cheer or sit quietly.\u00a0You must explain.<\/p>\n

To understand this, put the shoe on a Republican foot:\u00a0\u201cIf you agree with this statement, Republicans, then stand up and show your support:\u00a0The first duty of the Supreme Court is to uphold the United States Constitution, even against a president\u2019s attempt to impose illegal tariffs.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hmmm.\u00a0That requires more than either standing up and cheering or remaining seated. Republicans might want, for example, to discuss the propriety of Trump\u2019s tariffs, or say something else, to put the question into context.<\/p>\n

So, too, Democrats might have wanted to talk about whether it\u2019s the first duty of the government to protect American citizens against illegal aliens, even if that means sending masked troops into American cities and occasionally killing innocent American citizens.<\/p>\n

Now that we\u2019re playing this game, I have a few other questions to pose to Republicans.\u00a0No discussion, now.\u00a0Either stand up and cheer or remain seated:<\/p>\n

The first duty of American customs and immigration enforcement personnel is to protect American citizens, not to kill them.<\/p>\n

The first duty of young people in the United States called to serve their country is to answer patriotically, not to evade the draft by ginning up supposed bone spurs.<\/p>\n

The first duty of the president is to avoid political violence, not to incite a crowd to attack the Capitol Building and later to pardon those involved in the attack.<\/p>\n

America\u2019s first duty is to stand by our allies in times of need, not to threaten to take over Canada or Greenland.<\/p>\n

The first duty of high-ranking American officials is to protect America\u2019s secrets, not to post them on Signal chat groups that include editors of magazines.<\/p>\n

The first duty of the Department of Health and Human Services is to protect Americans from illness, not to discourage them from taking life-saving vaccines.<\/p>\n

The first duty of the Executive Branch is to ensure that justice is blind, not to prosecute your political enemies.<\/p>\n

Are you starting to get the idea?<\/p>\n

For Trump to think this was clever, and for Miller to think it disqualifies all Democrats from public service, is not quite correct.<\/p>\n

In fact, one might say that the first duty of an American president is to speak the truth, whenever possible, to the American people, not to intentionally mislead them for no reason whatsoever.<\/p>\n

Care to stand up and cheer?\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n

Mark\u00a0Herrmann\u00a0spent 17 years as a partner at a leading international law firm and later oversaw litigation, compliance and employment matters at a large international company. He is the author of\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>The Curmudgeon\u2019s Guide to Practicing Law<\/em><\/strong><\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>Drug and Device Product Liability Litigation Strategy<\/em><\/strong><\/a>\u00a0(affiliate links). You can reach him by email at\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>inhouse@abovethelaw.com<\/em><\/strong><\/a>.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The post Standing Up And Cheering For American-ish Principles<\/a> appeared first on Above the Law<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(Photo by Win McNamee\/Getty Images) During his State of the Union address, Donald Trump thought he was being clever.\u00a0 He\u00a0challenged\u00a0the Democrats in the chamber: \u201cIf you agree with this statement, then stand up and show your support:\u00a0The first duty of the American government is to protect American citizens, not illegal aliens.\u201d\u00a0 Needless to say, Democrats […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":145201,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-145200","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-above_the_law"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/xira.com\/p\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/trump-debate-GettyImages-2171255004-tdxFDT.jpg?fit=1024%2C683&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/145200","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=145200"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/145200\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/145201"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=145200"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=145200"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=145200"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}