The OLD Philosopher – John M. Miller
Back when Donald Trump lost the 2020 election, but he kept insisting for almost two years that he didn’t lose and that the election was stolen, I remember writing an essay where I said that it would be too dangerous for him to be imprisoned if he were convicted of any criminal charges. I thought that some of his most ardent followers are so zealous that they would take up arms against police and soldiers all over the country.
I still think that might be true, were he to be jailed while awaiting his trial(s). However, the day after he was arraigned for the most serious crimes of any charges he has faced to date, he made an unambiguous threat against Jack Smith, any judge before whom he shall appear, and any prosecutor who will be seeking his conviction: “IF YOU COME AFTER ME, I WILL COME AFTER YOU!”
First of all, it is a crime to make a public threat like that, particularly when he knows it would not be The Donald who would do the shooting, but any one of thousands of armed and politically unhinged followers of the former president who would hear him speaking to them personally to assassinate any of these now-well-known public servants. It would be almost impossible for anyone successfully and categorically to deny that Trumpian rhetoric may already have led to shootings of police officers and in synagogues, mosques, malls, etc.
Donald Trump does not know how to keep his foul mouth shut when he is ordered to do so by his attorneys. No doubt his family members and his friends have attempted to silence his dangerous outbursts. If he were a mafioso, he couldn’t get away with doing what he is doing. A mob member would be behind bars within hours of making such an outrageous public pronouncement. In fact Donald Trump IS a mafioso, a fascist mafioso who is trying seriously to undermine what he calls the Deep State, which means the federal government (of which for four years, he was its chief executive).
So the question for the Justice Department, the law enforcement officials, and the prosecutors who collecting their evidence against him, and for the American people, is this: For the safety of the nation and its citizens, Should He Be Locked Up NOW?
– August 5, 2023
John Miller is Pastor of The Chapel Without Walls on Hilton Head Island, SC. More of his writings may be viewed at www.chapelwithoutwalls.org.