"The FBI (Fake Bureau of Investigation) & the Department of Injustice, together with the Trump Hating Thug, Jack Smith, are interviewing, harassing, and subpoenaing people that work for me relative to the BOXES HOAX, & the 'Peacefully & Patriotically' speech I made at the January 6th protest of the Rigged and Stollen (sic) Presidential Election, where so many have been treated horribly and Unconstitutionally… This is a Gestapo type operation! Are they doing this to the Biden people? I don’t think so!"
January Trump post on his Trump Social website
For anyone believing that Trump did not call on his followers to do what they needed to do at the US Capitol building on January 6, 2021 or that those who fired bear repellent or hit police officers or who smashed windows, trashed Capitol offices or went into hard physical battle with police were “ordinary citizens engaged in legitimate political discourse” (the official GOP description of those attackers), I have bridge you should buy in Brooklyn. People died there. We now have a vivid and highly videoed litany of what rightwing MAGA Republicans do when they are unhappy about elections and law enforcement. From Charlottesville to the Capitol to the armed militia on the steps of the Michigan Capitol steps. Tucker Carlson’s fake news “vindication” notwithstanding.
You may recall how, at the January 6th Trump remonstration at the Ellipse, Trump asked the Secret Service and the Capitol Police, who informed him that those gathered on the other side of metal detectors were armed, to turn off those machines. “They’re not here to hurt me,” he replied. Those rapt attendees were among those who joined the March to the Capitol… and participated in the break-in, the attack on the officers, intending to stop an election certification vote and “hang Mike Pence.” Proud Boys, 3 Percenters, Oath Keepers, many of whom were tried and convicted of serious felonies for their actions.
Donald Trump is a master of turning what would appear bad politically to almost anyone else to serve as a recruiting drive for both political donations and violent political action. He is the “victim,” a purported stand-in for his “you could be next” MAGA following, protecting his flock and making damned sure that any grand juror, prosecutor, ordinary juror must accept the risk that if they indict (or worse) Trump, their lives will be at risk. His mere stated assumption of his imminent arrest on March 22nd, which did not pan out, resulted in $1.5 million in donations pouring in to support Trump’s defense. The repeated efforts by Trump and his retinue to assert both “executive privilege” and “attorney-client privilege,” the latter of which is not legally sustainable if such attorney-client conversations are most probably part of suborning criminal conduct, have been shot down by trial and appellate courts at every level.
But Trump just might be beginning to believe the he just might avoid trials and convictions as the Teflon defendant. He has not been indicted or prosecuted to date, and the lead case about hush money paid to a porn star is hardly the national horrible that he might face in connection with obstruction, unlawful possession of classified materials, inciting an insurrection or attempting to influence election officials to “find” votes. But Trump has one big card to play if he is genuinely facing charges. Intimidation. To stop prosecutions in the first place. And make sure jurors won’t convict him if he is tried.
As literally hundreds of death threats poured into the mailroom at the offices of Manhattan Dist. Atty. Alvin Bragg, prosecuting the Stormy Daniels’ hush money case against Trump, one particular message stood out: “A powdery substance was found Friday [3/24] with a threatening letter… New York City police and environmental protection officials isolated and removed the suspicious letter, and testing ‘determined there was no dangerous substance,’ Bragg spokesperson Danielle Filson said. The substance was sent to a lab for further testing, police said… ‘Alvin, I am going to kill you,’ the letter said…
“Hours earlier, Trump posted on his social media platform that any criminal charge against him could lead to ‘potential death & destruction.’… Trump also posted a photo of himself holding a baseball bat next to a picture of Bragg, a Democrat. On Thursday [3/23], Trump referred to Bragg, Manhattan’s first Black district attorney, as an ‘animal.’” Associated Press, March 25th. Trump also likened Federal Special Prosecutor Jack Smith, as “worse than the Gestapo,” that horrific pre-WWII era Nazi police force used to gather Jews for transportation to death camps.
Lest there be any doubt that the underlying cause of these threats, Trump has repeatedly called on his followers to take to the streets and “protest, protest, protest” with nary a suggestion that such protests be peaceful.
Trump has generally made his worst threats verbally, often away from microphones and cameras as well. But recently, perhaps feeling that he could create such a hostile environment against any judicial body seeking to convict or incarcerate him, Trump is now putting those threats in writing. And as Ron DeSantis is beginning to discover, the Florida Governor’s lack of national and international experience is drawing the wrath of even senior members of his own party. Maybe Americans really don’t want the United States to be nothing more than a big Florida. And perhaps that could explain why Trump’s poll numbers are rising again. Trump is definitely feeling his oats.
I’m Peter Dekom, and if Americans really want lower taxes for the rich and minority rule by White Christian nationalists, or increasingly violent polarization, they have a plethora of choice within the Republican Party.
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