(Washington Post)
Donald Trump had reason to believe he might never be held accountable in his political life, having received one break after another from the U.S. justice system. (See here and here.) But his conviction in the New York hush-money trial has erased Trump's aura of invincibility, and that makes him particularly dangerous at this moment -- and his rhetoric reflects that -- according to an op-ed piece at CNN by Dean Obeidallah.
A former attorney and host of Sirius XM radio's daily The Dean Obeidallah Show, Obeidallah writes under the headline "What we should fear about Trump’s ‘breaking point’ warning":
Former President Donald Trump is a convicted felon. That new reality means Trump is even more desperate and dangerous. If Trump had been acquitted or even if there had been a hung jury, Trump could have believed he truly was the “Teflon Don” who would never be held accountable.
That is no longer the reality. Rather, Trump’s seeming invincibility is waning like that of the person first called the “Teflon Don,” mobster John Gotti, who earned that moniker after avoiding criminal convictions in prior cases. Gotti’s Teflon, though, ended in 1992 after a jury found him guilty in a case where a former close associate testified against him. Gotti was sentenced to life in prison, where he died in 2002.
In a Fox News interview aired Sunday, the presumptive 2024 GOP presidential nominee first responded to a question about the prospect of being incarcerated with a sense of bravado, saying, “I’m OK with it.”
It turns out, however, that Trump is not OK with it at all, Obeidallah writes:
After a little more back-and-forth, Trump — who is still clearly processing his new status as a convicted felon — alarmingly commented about the potential of being sentenced to jail, saying, “I don’t know that the public would stand it, you know?” He continued, “I think it would be tough for the public to take.”
Trump then added, ominously, “At a certain point, there’s a breaking point.”
In response to Trump’s “breaking point” comment, Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff of California stated bluntly on CNN’s “State of the Union” that “this is clearly Donald Trump once again inciting violence.” Schiff — who has been a vocal Trump critic for years — is right.
This is a far more alarming comment than what Trump said after the verdict, when he slammed the case as a “a rigged, disgraceful trial.” Or the next day, when he held a press conference where he repeated the “rigged” line while again peddling a series of lies about the trial — including that President Joe Biden somehow orchestrated the New York County prosecution.
Trump is apparently beginning to understand that he could face prison time, given each of the 34 felonies he was convicted of carries up to a four-year prison sentence (with a maximum of 20 years possible on all counts). Even Trump’s own lawyer Todd Blanche told The Associated Press that while it would be “extraordinary” to send Trump to jail, it was not out of the question given “this is a very highly publicized case,” along with other factors such as Trump’s pending federal and Georgia charges.
Adding to the concerns about supporters inciting or committing violence to avenge Trump are comments from Trump’s allies since the verdict.
For example, after the verdict, Laura Loomer — a close Trump ally who flew with Trump on his plane to an Iowa rally earlier in the year — called for Democrats to “get the death penalty.” Newsmax host Carl Higbie, on his Friday show that airs on the very pro-Trump television network, slammed the “tyrants” responsible for prosecuting Trump and then warned that Democrats are “pushing the party that owns 90% of the guns.”
In addition, some Trump supporters online have been posting threats and trying to find out the identities of the jurors who convicted Trump in order to exact revenge. Some of the comments from Proud Boys chapters included a declaration of “war” and called for supporters to “fight” to “save your nation.”
Trump and his followers seem to derive a sense of power from the use of threats. With the former president likely feeling emasculated from his criminal conviction, the desire to restore power by injecting fear into others must be strong. In fact, Trump acolytes already have seen that fear can help produce their desired results. Obeidallah writes:
Keep in mind, Trump’s earlier attacks on the judge presiding over his New York criminal case resulted in violent threats against Justice Juan Merchan. Will Trump’s smears of the verdict and his “breaking point” language escalate those threats and even potentially lead to violence from Trump’s supporters? We saw that very scenario play out when Trump demonized the FBI for searching his home in August 2022. One of Trump’s supporters who vowed to “not tolerate” the Mar-a-Lago search attacked an FBI field office, resulting in his death.
Or will Trump follow his January 6 playbook in an effort to prevent being sentenced to prison? For example, after Trump repeatedly called the 2020 election “rigged,” he summoned supporters to come to Washington, DC, for a “big protest” that “will be wild” on Jan. 6, 2021, which led to the attack on the U.S Capitol designed to stop the certification of Biden’s election win. Will Trump encourage protests outside of the New York courthouse on July 11, when he’s scheduled to be sentenced?
It’s unclear what Trump will do — or how his supporters may choose to react. But one thing is certain: Trump now understands he is no longer Teflon and that he could end up in prison.
