The incendiary reaction to Donald Trump's conviction by his supporters inside and outside of Congress is a dark sign of dangerous times ahead in our politics — and a harbinger of what's to come if this November's election resembles the 2020 one.
Trump and his supporters have denounced the jury and the judge and accused the Justice Department of corruption. With unfounded allegations and reckless calls for retaliation, Republicans have emboldened a violent white supremacist movement. Despite his conviction for the January 6 attack on the Capitol, extremists reinvigorated by Trump's conviction are dreaming of violence. A Reuters investigation found that one Proud Boys member reportedly declared “war” after Trump's conviction, while another warned that “bad things will happen” if Trump is denied the presidency.
With President Trump promising to pardon the perpetrators of the January 6 attacks if he is re-elected, prison is no deterrent to extremists, so it's no wonder that two-thirds of Americans fear violence in this year's election, according to a new national poll.
Trump and his allies have attacked the pillars of the Democratic system: fair elections and fair trials. Republicans who dare to speak out for respect for the law, like former Maryland governor and current U.S. Senate candidate Larry Hogan, have been ostracized by a Republican Party that has abandoned its values ​​and is in Trump's pocket.
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) claimed without evidence or logic that “weaponizing the justice system is a hallmark of the Biden administration,” but the lawsuit was brought by a local district attorney, not the Department of Justice. Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-New York), who is reportedly running as Trump's running mate, repeated the claim that the justice system has been “weaponized” by Biden. Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Arkansas), another running mate, backed up the claim, calling the conviction a “Biden mastermind's conspiracy.”
Many Republicans have accused the Justice Department of arbitrarily prosecuting presumptive Republican nominees. So how do we explain the department's indictments of Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ) and Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-Texas), two leading Democrats, on corruption charges?
The case against Trump in Manhattan is not frivolous. Trump falsified books to hide payments to porn actresses to avoid disclosing sexual relations before the 2016 election. It is not as serious as the charges he was accused of trying to overturn the 2020 election or stealing classified documents. But we should not forget that Al Capone ended his criminal career with a conviction for tax evasion, not murder.
But Republicans have vowed to summon Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg to Congress, defund Trump's special counsel, and oppose Biden's nominees who would require Senate confirmation as punishment for the unanimous jury verdict. None other than former Trump adviser Steve Bannon (who is serving a four-month sentence ordered by a federal judge to be in prison by July 1 for refusing to testify before a House committee investigating the Capitol attack) are urging Trump to prosecute and jail Bragg if he is re-elected.
This rhetoric is appealing to groups like the Proud Boys, who have returned to Trump rallies ready for battle, knowing full well that Trump has not condemned their violence.
I fear the next six months will be a very ugly and dangerous time for American politics. It's time for the Republican Party to truly put America first and stop making reckless rhetoric that puts the entire country at risk.
Washington columnist Albert R. Hunt has covered US politics and presidential elections since 1972 for The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg News, the International New York Times and more. Listen to his weekly podcast or read more on Substack.
