Treason vs Betrayal

[OnDoutside]

With people wary of using the Treason word, it occurred to me that Betrayal might be a better fit i.e. Trump is betraying the American people and the Constitution.

I was looking up the difference, and came across this thread from 2010

https://forum.wordreference.com/threads/treason-vs-betrayal.2001427/

Is there a difference between treason and betrayal ?

It seems to me that treason is used in the context of law and that betrayal in more general. Am I right ?

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Answers

Treason is indeed an offence under English law. It has been a capital offence since 1351 and includes essentially helping one's own nation's enemies (so a French person can't be accused of treason against Britain). However it includes such miscellaneous offences as arson in the royal dockyards and raping the queen or female heir to the throne.

Betrayal, fortunately, is far less dramatic.

But what can be considered betrayal, is it the same as "disloyalty"?

If you accuse a president of treason and betrayal, should I assume that betrayal is a synonym of disloyalty? He was not loyal to his nation, for example...

It might be easier with examples. Let's say a president allowed a rival country access to military secrets - that would be treason. He might also break his election promises (to reduce unemployment, build more schools, or whatever) - that would be betrayal but not treason. A president can betray his electorate without betraying his country. Treason is if you like a subset of betrayal