More than 150 physical threats against judges in Trump cases since March

Since March, there have been more than 150 physical threats against judges in Trump cases, according to a Reuters special report filed on Tuesday.

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“The rhetoric inspires widespread calls for violence. In a review of posts from commentators on three pro-Trump websites, including the former president’s Truth Social platform, Reuters documented more than 150 posts since March 1 calling for physical violence against the judges who chair three of his top judges. handled lawsuits. profile cases – two state judges in Manhattan and one in Georgia overseeing a criminal case accusing Trump of illegally trying to overturn the 2020 election results,” reported Peter Eisler, Ned Park and Joseph Tanfani. Reuters.

“When Donald Trump attacks the integrity of judges hearing cases against him, his followers often respond with messages calling for the lawyers to be beaten, tortured, and murdered,” they wrote after a review of three pro-Trump websites.

“Trump’s April 23 message and the threatening responses from his followers illustrate the inflammatory impact of his angry and incessant rants against the judges hearing the criminal and civil cases against him. As his presidential campaign intensifies, Trump has baselessly portrayed the judges and prosecutors in his trials as corrupt puppets of the Biden administration bent on torpedoing his bid for the White House.”

It’s no surprise that the man who incited a deadly insurrection against his own country is also inciting physical threats against the judges in charge of three of his high-profile cases, two in Manhattan and one in Georgia.

Indeed, Reuters spoke with Mitch Silber, former director of intelligence analysis for the New York City Police Department, who compared the Trump supporters calling for violence against judges today and the 1/6 insurrectionists who followed what they saw as Trump’s policies . ‘March orders.â€

“This is just the version of that phenomenon for the period 2023-2024,” says Silber. “Voicing these ideas is the first step toward mobilizing against violence.”

This is one reason why responsible social media platforms should not tolerate the calls for violence and the language that supports it.

The Reuters report notes that these physical threats are woven into a fabric of “a larger group of hundreds identified by Reuters who used hostile, threatening and, in some cases, racist or sexualized language to attack the judges.”

Again, it is no surprise that some people who use racist and sexist language can be radicalized to violence; In fact, othering people has long been a way for elites like Donald Trump to get the masses to ignore what he doesn’t do for them, and instead be willing to sometimes destroy their own lives to get rid of him. serve.

While many lawyers and experts disagree that the guardrails won’t hold, this special report from Reuters reinforces the appearance that the U.S. legal system is biased against wealthy white men. No poor white or black person could get away with a sustained attack on judges, witnesses, juries and more. The fact that Donald Trump can still incite his followers is dangerous for everyone in America, except apparently the people who tell us how much confidence they have in the American justice system.

The system is failing to hold the Republican ex-president accountable. The law is not applied fairly, or even in a way that remotely suggests equality.

Donald Trump operates like a mafia boss and uses intimidation and threats to achieve his goals. His followers intuitively understand what he is asking them to do on his behalf, and some of them act accordingly. In politics we call the use of violence or the threat of violence to achieve a political goal terrorism.

Director Wray cited 1/6 domestic terrorism.

The MAGA movement can sometimes operate like a terror cell, and by tolerating that we cannot sustain a democracy. For every pundit who says the justice system shouldn’t pursue Trump because he should instead be defeated at the ballot box, Trump was already defeated at the ballot box in 2020. He then tried to steal the election after the uprising didn’t work.

The legal system must take action to hold Trump accountable for inciting his followers.