Donald Trump’s deranged threats against the whistleblower are having very real consequences right now [updated]
Earlier this week Donald Trump was caught on tape strongly implying that the people who provided information to the whistleblower should be put to death. Earlier today, Trump demanded to meet the whistleblower himself, as well as the people who helped the whistleblower, while threatening “big consequences.” It turns out Trump’s deranged threats really are having consequences.
This evening it was reported on 60 Minutes that the whistleblower is now “under federal protection because he or she fears for their safety.” [Update: the whistleblower’s lawyer is now pushing back against this reporting]. To be clear, this suggests that the whistleblower isn’t just trying to lay low out of an inherent desire to remain anonymous; the whistleblower is afraid of being physically harmed. This comes even as the President of the United States is calling for the whistleblower’s associates to be put to death.
Keep in mind that earlier this week the New York Times reported that the whistleblower is a CIA agent. So this person has been around the block a few times, and knows what a real threat does and doesn’t look like, and in his professional judgment, he’s in need of being protected by federal agents. The kicker is that any assailant on the whistleblower would be a deranged member of Donald Trump’s base, acting on these strong hints of violence that Trump keeps putting out there.
This has to end. Donald Trump is actively trying to get an American citizen murdered, for merely having dared to expose Trump’s crimes. Trump will, obviously, be criminally indicted for witness intimidation (and hundreds of other felony charges) once he’s ousted from office. But we can’t wait til the end of his term, because he’s too violently and derangedly out of control. Senate Republicans could force Trump to resign tomorrow if they wanted to. We’re calling on them to do just that, before they have to explain why they’re standing by a “president” who’s attempting to commit murder.
