Donald Trump goes on self-defeating rampage, attacks two key trial witnesses ahead of protective order hearing

| 8:30 pm EDT August 10, 2023
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How badly is Donald Trump hurting himself with his behavior on social media? Jack Smith and the DOJ have already cited his recent Truth Social antics in their request for a protective order barring Trump from discussing sensitive aspects of the case. But Trump can’t take a hint, and now he’s doubling down on his stupidity by attacking two people who are set to be key trial witnesses against him.

Trump posted this today: “I never asked Mike Pence to “disregard the Constitution.” Nor did I tell him that he was “too honest.” He is under great pressure and getting very bad advice from Marc “Long” and perhaps some of his other advisers. His Poll numbers have just gone down from an already anemic level. Liddle’ Mike now wants to be a tough guy. He could have had greatness, but chose another path!”

This is a problem for Trump in a few ways. First, Mike Pence and his former chief of staff Marc Short both reportedly testified against Trump to the grand jury, meaning they’ll each likely be called to testify against Trump at trial. So Trump’s post borders on witness intimidation right out of the gate. Throw in the fact that Trump is specifically attacking Pence over the grand jury testimony that he reportedly gave, and it easily qualifies as witness intimidation.

Posts like this are going to make it very easy for Judge Chutkan to hit Trump with a protective order, and very difficult for such an order to be overturned on appeal. For that matter, Trump’s posts are putting him that much closer to a full gag order, which would prevent Trump from being able to discuss his legal situation at all.

Donald Trump is doing real harm to himself with these kinds of social media antics – and he has to know it. It seems more obvious than ever that Trump knows it’s all over for him, knows he’s going to prison for the rest of his life, and is (consciously or subconsciously) trying to get it over with more quickly. If that’s how Trump wants to play it, so be it. Pretrial incarceration will absolutely happen if Trump keeps pushing the limit.