Donald Trump, Republican candidate for president, called yesterday for members of the Congressional Jan. 6 committee to be jailed. That comes on the heels of a speech in Ohio, earlier in the weekend, where Trump warned of a "bloodbath" in America if he loses the November 5 election to President Joe Biden. A former federal prosecutor denounced Trump as a "threat to democracy" and called for bis bond to be revoked in the wake of the "bloodbath" statement.
These are just the latest signs that Trump's mental health is deteriorating and he is not fit to serve in any public office. It also is a sign that Americans need to take a cold, hard look at the reality surrounding Trump's candidacy. First, Trump seems to be suggesting that, if he resided in the White House, he could have the Jan. 6 committee members, arrested and jailed -- on his own whim. But for more than 50 years, U.S. policy has forbidden presidents from being involved with the charging -- or non-charging -- decisions of the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ); the DOJ is to act independently of the White House. In other words, it's not the president's job to have people arrested or detained. And that's the latest of many signs that Trump has no clue how the American government works, and he apparently has no interest in learning.
We now have overwhelming evidence that Trump is both mentally unfit and incompetent in the government world. In fact, it's not clear at this point that he even was a good businessman. Incompetence and shaky mental health are a bad combination, and it's time those who claim to support Trump recognize that.
If some Americans were slow to notice Trump's unfitness for office before, they certainly should recognize it now after his "bloodbath" remarks. Those statements should be a "bridge too far" for anyone with a few functioning brain cells. For MAGA types who don't realize that Trump is not deserving of anyone's vote, they might want to examine their own mental fitness. In fact, that could raise this question: Who has the most diseased brain, Trump supporters or Trump himself?"
For those who are just dying to experience living in an authoritarian state, I would suggest you move to Russia, Hungary, Iran, China, or North Korea. Give it a shot, and let the rest of us enjoy a democracy that has served our country well for almost 250 years.
As for Trump's incompetence and unfitness, consider the way he botched the coronavirus pandemic. Public-health experts knew an outbreak of a deadly virus was a serious threat when Trump took office for his first term in 2017. They knew the virus likely was to originate in China and previous administrations -- led by George W. Bush and Barack Obama -- developed a step-by-step "playbook" on how to deal with such a crisis. With genuine leadership from the U.S., the virus could have been contained in China and eventually eradicated there -- saving millions of lives around the globe, including 1.2 million lives in the United States.
Trump apparently could not be bothered to read the playbook -- or pay attention to warnings from intelligence officials in daily briefings -- and he downplayed the threat in public statements. Just before the coronavirus outbreak appeared. Trump eliminated the position of Dr. Linda Quick, an American epidemiologist who had been embedded in Beijing specifically to monitor for signs of a viral outbreak. Here is more information about Dr. Linda Quick and her abrupt exit, which coincided with a Trump-fueled trade war with China.
Many Americans, including yours truly, have been concerned about Trump's mental fitness for months. For him to call for members of Congress to be jailed, even though they've committed no apparent crimes, speaks to clouded judgment. And the "bloodbath" comment is, by far, the most grotesque, outlandish statement I've heard from a public figure in my lifetime. Based on news accounts, I'm not sure anyone in attendance at the speech in Vandalia, Ohio, knew exactly what Trump meant by a "bloodbath," but a number of observers have taken it to be a call to violence among his supporters, demanding they spill blood in furtherance of his political aspirations. That is classic Trump, likely a malignant narcissist. Would MAGA types fall for this con game. They've fallen under con-game spell already, so the answer appears to be yes. Sad.
A former federal prosecutor is taking Trump's words seriously, according to a report at Newsweek:.
Glenn Kirschner condemned Donald Trump's "bloodbath" remarks and warned that the former president is a "threat to democracy."
Kirschner, a former assistant U.S. attorney and frequent Trump critic, called for the former president to have his bond revoked over his comments on Saturday.
Trump, the presumed 2024 Republican presidential nominee who was in Ohio on Saturday for a campaign stop at the Buckeye Values PAC rally, is facing mounting criticism for telling rallygoers that there will be a "bloodbath" if he loses to his Democratic rival President Joe Biden in November.
"Now if I don't get elected, it's going to be a bloodbath for the whole—that's gonna be the least of it," Trump said. "It's going to be a bloodbath for the country. That will be the least of it."
Trump's comments quickly went viral and sparked a flurry of reactions on social media. While supporters of the Make America Great Again (MAGA) leader defended his "bloodbath" remarks and argued they were taken out of context, critics accused Trump of inciting violence.
Trump, the presumed 2024 Republican presidential nominee who was in Ohio on Saturday for a campaign stop at the Buckeye Values PAC rally, is facing mounting criticism for telling rallygoers that there will be a "bloodbath" if he loses to his Democratic rival President Joe Biden in November.
"Now if I don't get elected, it's going to be a bloodbath for the whole—that's gonna be the least of it," Trump said. "It's going to be a bloodbath for the country. That will be the least of it."
Kirschner weighed in on the bloodbath remarks during Sunday's segment of his Justice Matters podcast, where he said, "Trump tried to walk it back later saying he was really talking about what would happen to the auto industry if he wasn't elected, but his words belie that; indeed they contradict that BS walk back."
The former prosecutor blasted Trump and compared Saturday's remarks to his January 6, 2021, rhetoric, for which Trump is accused of inciting the U.S. Capitol riot by spreading unfounded claims of widespread voter fraud during the 2020 election. The claims led to a deadly siege as part of an effort to block Joe Biden's 2020 Electoral College victory.
Trump was indicted on four counts by the Department of Justice (DOJ) for his alleged role in the insurrection, including conspiracy to defraud the United States; conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding; obstruction of and attempt to obstruct an official proceeding; and conspiracy against rights. Trump, meanwhile, has maintained his innocence, accusing prosecutors of investigating him of attempting to derail his 2024 presidential campaign.
More than 1,265 individuals have been charged by the DOJ for their alleged involvement in the violent riot, with many already convicted and serving sentences.
Kirschner also took aim at Trump for making the bloodbath comments while facing dozens of felony charges in four separate criminal indictments. The former president had pleaded not guilty to all the charges.
"He is a threat to everyone in the United States of America," Kirschner said. "He is a threat to democracy. He launched an attack on January 6 against our democracy and it turned out to be a deadly attack. And he launched it with far less inflammatory language than he just used at the rally on Saturday: 'There will be a bloodbath in this country.' Do you understand me? That's what he just said. He's actually ratcheted up the recklessness and the violence of his rhetoric. And he's on pretrial release in four felony cases."
The former prosecutor argued that Trump's comments are dangerous and said that being a former president and presumptive GOP presidential nominee doesn't give him a free pass.
"He shouldn't be allowed to endanger our nation and her people and our democracy with this kind of violence-inducing rhetoric, more reckless than his rhetoric on January 6," Kirschner said. "This is institutional insanity if the institutions of government just receive this with a shrug. Do what the law provides, revoke Donald Trump on release, detain him pending trial. And for gosh sakes, let our country begin to move forward again."
