Trump and his far-right supporters are threatening prosecutors, judges, lawmakers and officials
▲ Donald Trump, who is seeking another term in the White House, yesterday at a campaign event in Smithton, Pennsylvania.Photo Ap
David Brooks and Jim Cason
Correspondents
The newspaper La Jornada
Tuesday, September 24, 2024, p. 23
New York and Washington, local election officials and volunteers, civil rights organizations, prosecutors, judges and even journalists live under death threats and intimidation, part of a climate of political violence that even raises concerns among some experts about the possibility of a civil war regarding the electoral dispute.
The threats and cultivation of political violence are generated by Donald Trump and his far-right supporters across the country. The Republican candidate refuses to commit to respecting the election result if he does not win, and insists that he did not lose the 2020 contest, which culminated on January 6, 2021 with a violent assault on the Capitol by Trump supporters to stop the certification of those elections, in what many have called an attempted coup d’état.
This act of political violence is unprecedented in the country’s history. More than 1,500 people have been prosecuted for this incident, in which some 140 police officers were injured (one died as a result of this incident). The then president was subjected to a impeachment for his incitement of that act and faces a federal criminal trial for the same. Yet today at almost every public event of his campaign, Trump plays a recording of the national anthem sung by the prisoners convicted of participating in that assault, the so-called J6 Choir, which he claims are great patriots and suggests they will be acquitted if he reaches the White House.
With this, Trump continues to fuel the idea that this election – if he does not win – is already tainted, claiming without evidence that his opponents are registering immigrants illegal across the country, that local and state election authorities are corrupt and there will be no reliable result. By undermining the credibility of the electoral system, Trump has also threatened that when he wins, he will massively criminally prosecute corrupt election officialsthat is, every politician, official and officer who dared to question his legitimacy this time and in 2020. He has openly said that he will use the Department of Justice against his political enemies, including the current president, and that they will be subject to long prison sentences.
Donald Trump is making many public threats that he will use the legal system to punish his enemies, which seems to be anyone who opposes him. This conduct is unprecedented in the history of election campaigns, threatens all of our freedoms, and violates our basic rule of law.former deputy attorney general and assistant secretary of the Department of Justice Donald Ayer, who served in that position under President George W. Bush, said in an interview with The Guardian.
Following an attempted assassination of Trump at a rally in July and another apparent attempt this month at one of his golf courses, the former president and his allies have sought to blame Democrats for the acts, accusing them of fomenting political violence by saying Trump would be a threat to democracy. The Republican, instead of lowering his hostile tone, retorts that “they are the threats to democracy… I am trying to save the country” from his opponents. marxists, socialists. He now refers to Democratic candidate Kamala Harris as Comrade Kamalaand recently accused that Because of this communist left rhetoric, the bullets are flying, and it will only get worse.
There are continuing instances of people sending messages to politicians and officials threatening their lives, those of their colleagues and aides, often referring to the fact that they have their firearms ready. Authorities report that threats against federal judges have doubled in the last three years, the Capitol Police have investigated more than 8,000 cases of threats against legislators last year, and these types of incidents continue to grow this year. The Justice Department has filed charges in approximately 700 cases of threats during the last two years, 400 of which were against judges, politicians, prosecutors and other public officials, the Department of Justice reports. Wall Street JournalThe past two years have seen the highest number of federal cases against those who threaten officials, with 78 charged in 2023 and another 72 so far, Reuters reported. Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold says she has received more than 1,000 serious threats, including death threats, in the past year.
Meanwhile, the FBI is investigating suspicious packages sent to election officials in more than 12 states, AP reports.
Polls of experts show a growing number of people who believe that political violence is justifiable to bring Trump back to the White House. It doesn’t help when figures with a large presence on social media like Elon Musk, owner of X, say that “unless Trump is elected, America will fall into a tyranny,” and a few days earlier he wrote: and no one is even trying to assassinate Biden/Kamala (He later deleted the tweet and said he was joking.)
Against the media
On the other hand, Trump and his fans continue to point to the media as the enemy of the peopleand at his rallies there is almost always a moment when he points from the podium to the media section to criticize them and accuse them of everything while the attendees shout insults. This has reached such a level that the Committee to Protect Journalists is offering guides to media outlets on how to protect their reporters, including their physical, legal, cyber and psychological safety, during this final stretch of the election (https://cpj.org/es/2024/04/presidential-elecciones-del-2024-en-estados-unidos-kit-de-security-del-periodista/).
Not even celebrities are exempt. I hate Taylor Swiftwas Trump’s message after the country’s most influential pop star endorsed Democrat Kamala Harris. He commented that She will pay a price for that in the market.Trump allies had commented that he was planning a sacred war against Swift if she dared to back her opponent.
Experts say this scenario is extraordinary in the world’s supposedly advanced democracies and that it is worrying that political violence is becoming normalized in the United States, the self-proclaimed champion of democracy in the world.
