If Donald Trump really wants to go there, so be it
Political activists have spent all year demanding that the Feds move in on Donald Trump. Now the Feds have indeed carried out a search and seizure warrant at Trump’s home, and have released a copy of the warrant which confirms that it’s been investigating Trump for espionage and other crimes for awhile now. No one knows the DOJ’s timetable, but Trump’s arrest and indictment could now happen at any time.
Now that Trump is officially on the clock for indictment and arrest, he’s doing what we all pretty much knew he would do: he’s implying that he’ll retaliate with a call to violence. You know what? If Trump wants to go there, so be it.
It’s been nearly three weeks since the Feds turned Trump’s home inside out. We’ve seen isolated acts of violence on the part of his most unstable supporters. But there have been no organized attacks. And while we have to remain vigilant, no one should be surprised that there haven’t been any organized pro-Trump attacks. Trump supporters are the kinds of cowards who only want to do something like invade the Capitol when their guy is in charge of federal law enforcement and is able to run interference for him.
Besides, the more directly Trump implies violent retaliation, the more it could prompt the DOJ to arrest him sooner rather than later. Typically the DOJ chooses a timetable based on overwhelmingly nailing a criminal target with an insurmountable amount of evidence before bringing an indictment. But the DOJ makes exceptions when a criminal target is attempting to commit more crimes – and Trump’s increasingly thinly veiled threats of retaliatory violence could well end up prompting the DOJ to take action.
For certain, once Trump ends up on criminal trial, the things he’s posting to his own social network will be used against him at trial. One of the most surefire ways to prove criminal intent to a jury, beyond a reasonable doubt, is to show the jury that the defendant responded to being investigated for crimes by threatening to commit even more crimes.
Donald Trump knows he’s getting indicted. He knows he’s going to end up in prison. And he knows there’s nothing he can do to stop it. The only trick he has left is to try to scare us into paralysis, by making threats that he doesn’t appear able to carry out anyway. The Feds sure as hell won’t be deterred by his threats of violence, so why should we?
Let’s put it another way: Trump is going to say and do whatever he’s going to say and do. The DOJ is going to do whatever it’s going to do to Trump. The DOJ is going to win and Trump is going to lose. And none of you reading this are going to get a vote on how any of that is going to play out. So why sit around idly fretting over it?
If you really want to stick it to Trump, let’s make sure his Republican allies don’t take control of the House in November. Now is the time for you to dive in and donate, volunteer, and help spread the word about competitive midterm races. Let Trump continue digging a deeper hole for himself. He’s toast. Let’s focus on defeating the mini-Trumps who are running in the 2022 midterm elections.
