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Darren Richman
Dec 18, 2019
![Trump compared his plight to the Salem witch trials and got schooled by the mayor of Salem](https://www.indy100.com/media-library/image.png?id=28045053&width=1245&height=700&quality=85&coordinates=111%2C0%2C111%2C0)
PA/iStock
President Donald Trump has been schooled by the mayor of Salem after claiming, “More due process was afforded to those accused in the Salem Witch trials.”
Mayor Kim Driscoll took to Twitter and opened with the entirely apposite “Oy vey” before imploring Trump to “learn some history”, explaining that the trials of 1692 included the “absence of evidence” and “powerless, innocent victims” put to death.
The Mayor went on to point out that, in the case of Trump, there was “ample evidence”, “admissions of wrongdoing” and the “perpetrators are among the most powerful and privileged”.
The president is fond of referring to his treatment at the hands of his critics as a "witch hunt" but he seems to fundamentally misunderstand what the term means. The phrase was born out of the trials in which innocent women were sentenced to death based on absolutely no evidence. Whereas, in this instance, the president might be brought down by actual, tangible evidence of wrongdoing.
Words are difficult and so are meanings but hopefully Trump will be more careful with his language going forward. It seems unlikely but one lives in hope.
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