Columnist Once Warned Everyone To Take Trump’s 'Threats' Seriously: "[He] Has Shown Himself to be..."

When Donald Trump was facing two criminal indictments (one in a federal courtroom in Florida and another brought by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg), one political analyst warned that the president's rhetoric may become increasingly threatening as he struggles to cope with his legal woes. Things were more at risk for the real estate mogul as he may have had to face prison time, as pointed out by Salon columnist Chauncey DeVega, such as when the former President had no trouble pumping up his fans when he just lost the 2020 presidential race and echoed claims of election theft despite no evidence.

According to Raw Story, Trump once faced the possibility of spending the rest of his life in jail if he was found guilty on all 40 counts included in the indictment of Mar-a-Lago documents by special counsel Jack Smith (though Judge Eileen Cannon recently dismissed the case in 2024, as per ABC News). Nonetheless, DeVega felt he knew what Trump's response would have been had things not turned out his way.

The columnist penned, "He will threaten and encourage, through direct means as well as stochastic terrorism and other veiled commands, acts of violence, chaos, mayhem, and murder. To that point, in response to his impending indictment and arrest for the crimes of Jan. 6, Trump is behaving like an unrepentant reprobate, as he rants and throws a fit on his Truth Social disinformation platform."

DeVega pointed out that Trump was already 77 years old (at the time of his column), and hence there was little hope that he would moderate his speech or modify his habits. "Donald Trump is not going to change or otherwise modify or correct his behavior. He is 77 years old; violence is core and central to his personhood, identity, and way of being in the world. As mental health professionals continue to warn, Trump has shown himself to be a sociopath if not a psychopath," he added. As evidence of the lurking dangers, he cited an incident in which one of Trump's supporters was arrested after being located near the address of former President Barack Obama and a vehicle full of weapons.

According to the columnist, the former president also did not stop berating, insulting, and threatening Attorney General Merrick Garland, Special Counsel Jack Smith, and the rest of the prosecutors and law enforcement officers who were trying to bring him to justice — just as they would have for an ordinary citizen of the United States. 

Referring to a jarring audio recording Trump had uploaded to his Truth Social account, as DeVega put it, "Violence, malice, and menace are the animating energy for Donald Trump's 2024 presidential campaign and his Hitlerian promise of a final battle and revenge against him and his MAGA movement's perceived enemies such as the Democrats, liberals, progressives, the news media, and any others who dare to oppose them and their plans to end multiracial pluralistic democracy."

This article originally appeared 1 year ago.