Lawrence: America revolted against George III's ‘madness.' King Charles found the madness in America

And so on this day in American history, a number became illegal.Or maybe just photographing that number became illegal, or maybe seashells became illegal.It's hard to tell because the single most childish indictment in the history of federal law was revealed today by someone who proved himself to future historians to be the most incompetent head of the Justice Department in history, including two Nixon Republican attorneys general who were found guilty of crimes.Donald Trump's acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, who was Donald Trump's criminal defense lawyer, who got him 34 guilty verdicts, put his application to become Donald Trump's permanent attorney general in writing today in the form of an indictment of former FBI Director James Comey that makes the number you see over my shoulder at the moment, which I dare not say, a crime.If that number is placed in proximity to other numbers, or probably, in fact, definitely the word Trump.And I am going to say the word Trump tonight, repeatedly, and to preserve one of the most important personal distinctions I have that makes me very different from Donald Trump.

I'm not saying better, just different.The distinction that I have never been indicted.To preserve my never indicted status, I will never say that illegal number again.even though it was briefly my number as a tight end in high school before it was switched to number 81.NFL team lawyers must already be getting ready to take a position on the sidelines to make sure that anyone in the NFL with that number on his back is never beside anyone else.this number on his back.

Because if two NFL players stand beside each other with those two numbers on their backs, they can now be charged with committing the federal crime of threatening the life of the President of the United States.And if any college player or NFL player with that number that begins with eight ever gets tackles or in any way harms a player with that number that begins with four, that player is going to end up with the James Comey indictment.The two count indictment, one of threatening the life of a president and two, the second one, transmitting that threat through interstate electronic communication, which is to say a televised football game.Put those two numbers together in a televised football game and you have that federal crime.That is life.in the country that Donald Trump and his criminal defense lawyer turned acting attorney general now want you to live in.

And into that country today stepped the king of England, who played an unprecedented part in another desperately humiliating day for Donald Trump's Washington.And for once, the king himself was not the humiliated one.No one humiliates Trump lawyers more than Donald Trump.And he could not have done more to humiliate the already humiliated Todd Blanch than he did today by getting the goofiest indictment America has ever seen out of Todd Blanch, after literally years of Donald Trump urging the indictment of James Comey.And Donald Trump's humiliation today was delivered to him by his guest of honor, the King of England, who for the first timein my life made me feel something akin to gratitude to a British monarch and outright awe for his speechwriters.

The speechwriters had the task of telling the truth in a chamber where half of the members applaud and cheer Donald Trump's pathological lies.And today, the King of England and his speechwriters had those same Republicans applauding sharp criticism and complete disagreement with Donald Trump.

The immediate aftermath of 9 -11, when NATO invoked Article 5 for the first time, and the United Nations Security Council was united in the face of terror, we answered the call together, as our people have done so for more than a century.shoulder to shoulder through two world wars, the Cold War, Afghanistan, and moments that have defined our shared security.Today, Mr. Speaker, that same unyielding resolve is needed for the defense of Ukraine and her most courageous people.It is needed in order to secure a truly just and lasting peace.

Standing ovation from J .D.Vance, who has said, I don't care about Ukraine.Standing ovation from those Republicans.And now we know.We know you can get the Republicans in that room to applaud what reads like a Biden State of the Union address.

You can get the Republicans in that room to applaud a speech that completely contradicts Donald Trump if the speech is delivered in a posh British accent.This was the day.that I hope at least some high school kids were watching.American high school kids who have grown up in the dark shadow of Donald Trump.High school kids who in most of their lifetimes now have been living under a Donald Trump presidency filled with uncouth public profanity and rank stupidity and an inability to simply read the words put in front of him by his speechwriters and skip the idiotic ad libs.

on Charles.Can you believe it?Amazing how...I wonder what she's thinking right now.

If you are a high school kid in America, I now have two King's speeches to recommend to you.First, the wonderful film about the King, who was a genuine inspiration to the British during World War II, titled The King's Speech.And today's speech by Charles.where he faithfully delivered every word his speechwriters gave him with no wise guy side comments, no threats of war crimes, no statement he could not support with facts, and most of all, with the kind of dignity that every previous American president either had or was able to do a reasonable imitation of in that room where Charles spoke today.You will not see an honest speech delivered from that podium againstthis presidency, with Donald Trump threatening to destroy NATO.

Charles said this.

From the depths of the Atlantic to the disastrously melting ice caps of the Arctic, the commitment and expertise of the United States Armed Forces and its allies lie at the heart of NATO.pledge to each other's defense, protecting our citizens and interests, keeping North Americans and Europeans safe from our common adversaries.

Donald Trump recently said, and these are his exact words, NATO is shameful.His vice president has said, I don't really care about what happens in Ukraine.And the Republican Party in that chamber today rose to their feet to applaud NATO and applaud support for Ukraine.And Charles was merely echoing his mother, the only other British monarch ever to address a joint session of Congress, which she did in May of 1991.

NATO too is adapting to the new realities in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union, and to changing attitudes in the West.It is Britain's prime concern to ensure that the new Europe is open and liberal, and that it works in growing harmony with the United States and the other members of the Atlantic community.All our history in this and earlier centuries underlines the basic point that the best progress is made when Europeans and Americans act in concert.We must not allow ourselves to be enticed into a form of continental insularity.

Donald Trump wouldn't understand the word insularity, but that is Queen Elizabeth speaking against Donald Trump's insularity in his America first concept and his America alone madness as her son did today.

I pray with all my heart that our alliance will continue to defend our shared values with our partners in Europe and the Commonwealth and across the world.And that we ignore the clarion calls to become ever more inward -looking.

Charles smiled through an appearance with Donald Trump at the White House before heading to the Capitol today.

Then you're going over to Congress and you're going to make a speech that's going to make everybody very envious of that beautiful accent of yours.Very elegant.He's a very elegant man.

That's all Donald Trump can hear, the accent.Donald Trump's listening comprehension is probably close to zero, so in a speech done with that accent, in a non -lecturing tone, Donald Trump doesn't know when he is being rebuked.

The U .S.Supreme Court Historical Society has calculated that Magna Carta is cited in at least 160 Supremecases since 1789, not least as the foundation of the principle that executive power is subject to checks and balances.

Standing ovation for checks and balances, cheering for checks and balances.There you have congressional Republicans joined by Democrats cheering.cheering checks and balances on Donald Trump written into our Constitution, thanks to the inspiration of the British, while Donald Trump, in every day of his presidency, finds a way to try to violate those checks and balances, to try to destroy those checks and balances.And here's Charles rebuking Donald Trump's patently insane claim that climate science is a hoax.

Even as we celebrate the beauty that surrounds us, our generation must decide how to address the collapse of critical natural systems which threatens far more than the harmony and essential diversity of nature.We ignore at our peril the fact that these natural systems, in other words nature's own economy, provide the foundation for our prosperity and our national security.

Jack Royston, Newsweek's Chief Royal Correspondent, who contributed to our coverage of that speech earlier today, and who hangs on every word and studies those words more closely than the rest of us, with a full understanding of the King's speechwriter's surgical precision, found what he believes is a reference to the Epstein survivors in the King's speech, a reference that was confirmed to him from a source close to the king's speechwriters.Charles has shunned his younger brother, Andrew, and removed his titles this year after the release of the Epstein files deepened our understanding of Andrew's friendship with the sex trafficker and raper of children, Jeffrey Epstein, who was Donald Trump's closest friend for 10 years.Virginia Giuffre accused Andrew of sexual assault, which Andrew has denied.Virginia Giuffre took her own life last year.And her brother was one of the people who was hoping to meet with Charles, along with Epstein's survivors, during this royal visit to the United States.Like Donald Trump, Charles refuses to meet with Jeffrey Epstein's survivors.

But according to Jack Royston's reporting in Newsweek today, this line you're about to hear was meant as an acknowledgment of what the Epstein survivors have endured.

In both of our countries, It is the very fact of our vibrant, diverse and free society.that gives us our collective strength, including to support victims of some of the ills that so tragically exist in both our societies today.

In his reporting today, Jack Royston quotes a royal aide saying that that line was about the Epstein survivors.It was certainly in His Majesty's mind to acknowledge victims of abuse, so they are naturally incorporated in this line.It's not much.In fact, it is very, very little.It couldn't be smaller.It's the smallest and most indirect acknowledgement of the Epstein survivors' suffering that the speechwriters could have come up with.

But it's something.It is more than Donald Trump has ever said about them.Charles's fifth great -grandfather, was the king of England during the American Revolution.King George lost his mind during his rule.He was literally insane, which was dramatized in the wonderful 1991 play by the British playwright Alan Bennett, titled The Madness of George III.And here we are, 250 years after the madness of King George III helped drive the American colonies into revolution against the crown.

And when Charles became the first British king to address the Congress today, he found the madness on this side of the Atlantic.