Trump defense to cite 'middle ground' between election 'fight' and inciting insurrection

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3. The speech was carefully calibrated

to walk right up to the edge of the line without crossing over it.

He wanted to use the crowd to do his dirty work while giving himself plausible deniability. Like a mob boss telling his henchmen to take someone "out for a ride." Trump, and whoever helped him write the speech, knew that he couldn't explicitly tell the insurrectionists to violently storm the Capitol and hang Mike Pence. But they got the message loud and clear. Cause and effect.

Also, I'm not sure the First Amendment applies to the President in his official capacity as head of the government. I'm no constitutional lawyer, but my understanding is that the First Amendment is intended to protect the people's rights from infringement by the government -- not the other way around.