Artwork by Michael DiMilo
By Geoff Carter
Outspoken is hardly the word to describe former president Donald J. Trump. Neither is bombastic, ranting, raving, or loudmouthed. The nastiness and sheer animus of his discourse deserves a word with a much ruder connotation; blunt is a closer fit, but that word can imply being brutally truthful, which would definitely not work in any context concerning Mr. Trump.
I think words like abusive, boorish, insulting, and crude hit closer to the mark. The ex-president talks and acts like a schoolyard bully, calling people names like Crooked Hillary, Little Marco, Sleepy Joe, and worse. Behavior like this usually elicit condemnation, but somehow, when Mr. Trump does it, he not only gets away; his people love it.
He’s gotten away with bragging about grabbing women’s private parts, mocking disabled reporters, and allegedly inciting an insurrection against the U.S. Capitol Building. The only guardrails that have even attempted to contain this man’s incoherent blathering has been the courts, and even they cannot seem to control the torrent of invective that spews from this man’s mouth.
Mr. Trump is currently facing eighty-eight felony indictments as well as having been found liable for slander and fraud in separate civil judgements. He has also been subject to various court-ordered gag orders. In Trump’s hush money case involving porn star Stormy Daniels, Judge Merchan recently imposed an order prohibiting Trump from making any public statements about witnesses, attorneys, or court personnel, but after the ex-president posted criticisms of the judge’s daughter, Judge Merchan expanded the order to include the district attorney’s and his own family members.
He has also been prohibited from making statements about witnesses in the Federal Elections, or January 6th case. He has been warned against speaking about their potential involvement in the case, and has been prohibited from talking about court staff, counsel, or their families.
In the Georgia election case, Mr. Trump has been barred from communicating with any of his co-defendants or potential witnesses in the case and is specifically warned against intimidating them. He is also prohibited from communicating with fellow witnesses in the federal documents, or Mar-a-Lago case, and cannot have access to any discovery material—sensitive material—involved in the case.
Of course, it all began with Trump attacking Judge Engoron’s clerk during his New York civil fraud trial. The judge slapped Trump with the order after the ex-president posted nasty comments about her on social media. When Mr. Trump persisted with his own unique brand of vitriol, Judge Engoron upped the ante with a fifteen thousand dollar fine—chump change for the defendant.
And so, when the ex-president ignores these gag orders, persisting in his insulting and boorish comments, Judge Engoron, Judge Merchan, and all the others (except Judge Cannon, who seems to live in his pocket) are faced with the toughest of choices. Any ordinary citizen who would think of disregarding a court order would find himself in jail so fast his head would be spinning. But to jail an ex-president on contempt charges seems to be a bridge too far for these jurists. God knows they’ve had plenty of reason to do so—and plenty of opportunities to boot—but they seem very reluctant to hold Mr. Trump accountable for flouting the rule of law.
So much for everyone being equal before the law. The Declaration of Independence says all men are created equal—unless you’re rich, privileged, or have friends in high places. Donald Trump is not the first citizen whom the courts have judged with a slightly opened blind eye. Former President Richard Nixon, on the cusp of being indicted for his part in the Watergate cover-up was suddenly and inexplicably pardoned by his successor Gerald Ford. And it’s not only politicians who get special treatment before the law.
Hiring a lawyer for us mere mortals is expensive. Faced with a minor transgression and a fine, most defendants find it easier to pay the bill rather than hire counsel—even if they’re in the right. The law is almost as unaffordable as healthcare for the normal American. Rather than bankrupt ourselves for a principle, we’d rather hang our heads, pay the fine, keep our money, and listen to those who can afford lawyers laugh all the way to the bank.
These circumstances—as we well know—are different for the rich. There seems to be an entirely different set of laws for them. Not only can they afford to sue, or defend, legal actions in a court of law, they can pay for the best attorneys, spend tens of thousands of dollars engaging in delaying tactics, hoping to exhaust their opponent’s resources, and even exercise political influence in their efforts to manipulate the courts. O.J. Simpson is a prime example of this sort of arrogance. Although the prosecution built a very strong case against him, Simpson’s defense “dream team” was able to get him off.
Even Nixon and Simpson stayed within the rule of law—at least in outward appearances, but Donald J. Trump has taken arrogance and contempt for the courts to a new level. He has taken to social media to proclaim his innocence, berate and demean the prosecution, and to threaten and intimidate anyone even remotely connected to the criminal and civil cases arrayed against him. His venomous posts have riled up his followers to the point where jurists and court staff fear for their safety, if not their lives. This, of course, if the man’s pattern, which, unfortunately, is rapidly becoming the modus operandi of the far right.
Trump riles up his base with outrageous statements, usually painting himself as the victim (he recently compared himself to Jesus Christ), and then encourages them to act. During his January 6th speech, he told the mob to “fight like hell”. In a debate, he told the white supremacist group The Proud Boys to “stand back and stand by”. He recently posted a video of President Biden tied up in the back of a pick-up truck.
Detractors might claim that these images and posts are harmless, but after the last presidential election, at the height of Trump’s campaign to overturn the election results, election workers were besieged with threatening posts, text messages, and even death threats. Some felt threatened in their own homes when angry crowds gathered outside. According to NPR, election workers across twenty-two states have been threatened by far-right extremist groups. Sometimes their families are also threatened. One election worker even had his dog poisoned.
The discourse of hate and anger does not exist in a vacuum. It has real consequences. When far-right extremists take Mr. Trump’s directives to heart by threatening and trying to intimidate his enemies, it is a direct frontal assault on our democracy.
Whatever the reason for the courts and the media handling the ex-president with kid gloves, whether it’s because he’s a former president or because he’s wealthy or because he’s famous or because he has a demagogical mass appeal—don’t ask me. I don’t see it, the man, and his rhetoric, are a danger.
It shouldn’t just be up to the courts to gag him. We need to strip him once and for all of his ability to latch onto the levers of power. The Republican Party hasn’t done it and has been ruined because of their inaction. Congress has tried, the courts have tried, and the pundits have tried. He may lose his fortune, or he may actually go to prison.
But if not, he will remain a clear and present danger.
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