'Silence' of GOP in face of Trump’s 'inflammatory' speech portends 'horrific' 2024: analysts

United States Department of Justice special counsel Jack Smith asked U.S. District Court Judge Tanya Chutkan Friday "to limit the extent former President Trump can discuss his looming" January 6th "trial on charges related to his effort" to overturn the 2020 presidential election, "citing a history of targeting those who 'present an obstacle' to him, The Hill reports.

Per the report, "The government said the move was needed because Trump 'has an established practice of issuing inflammatory public statements targeted at individuals or institutions that present an obstacle or challenge to him.'"

MSNBC's Deadline: White House host Nicolle Wallace interviewed The Bulwark Editor-in-Chief Charlie Sykes about many Republicans' consistent refusal to call out Trump's violent rhetoric.

POLL: Should Trump be allowed to hold office again?

Wallace said, "Charlie, I'm going to say something people say privately all the time and not on TV very often, something really bad is going to happen, okay. S**t's about to hit the fan in this country. Fox News had to veer away from a lunatic spewing hatred and death threats from Democratic officials in New York because of a migrant caucus. Everyone is on -- everyone knows we're walking into something hideous and no one will do anything. I refuse to believe nothing can be done. These people getting their information in part because of the vacuum being created by people — I don't even know we call it a spine anymore — that might be an insult to spines. But there's still people out there with followings."

She continued, "He can go out and — here's what I want to ask you. When something happens, what do you want to be able to tell your kids and grandkids you did? You good with nothing? [Are] you good with, 'I didn't do anything because I didn't think anyone would listen to me; Trump tweeted something mean about me someday.' Because you did something, I tried to do something. Where are all the Republicans who still have little slivers of a following in the cesspool that is the MAGA base?"

Sykes replied, "Well look, all of the red lights are blinking about what is about to happen, and I think that's what makes what Jack Smith is doing so important because he's saying, 'Okay, right now, this is a stress test for the entire criminal justice system, but the Republicans are not going to step up. They are not going to raise their hands. We know Mitch McConnell is not going to come out of his bunker and say what he said after January 6th.' But what I think was so powerful about this document, which I've just skimmed is the way that Jack Smith basically sounds all of those alarms and says, 'Look, this is not just theoretical. Look what he's done in the past. Look what he's doing right now.' and I know the word 'gag order' is going to be thrown around a lot, but what he's really saying is, is that Donald Trump needs to be held to the same standard that any other criminal defendant would be held to, but also to alert the court to the extent of this campaign to discredit and attack and demean judges and jurors and prosecutors, to discredit the entire process."

He continued, "This is not just one trial among any. Donald Trump is not just one defendant among any. This is a former president of the United States who is prepared to call out the furies, who is prepared to stoke violence and tell people to come because it will be wild. Again, with all these red lights blinking, the silence that we've gotten used to, I think becomes less defensible because what happens in 2024 could be horrific. It is likely to be horrific. And all of the people that enabled it and rationalized it and looked the other way, ought to be held to account in some way at least in their conscience if not politically."

READ MORE: Jack Smith seeks protective order citing Trump's threat on Truth Social

Watch the video below or at this link.

Nicolle Wallace and Charlie Sykes discussion: Jack Smith requests order limiting Trump's speechyoutu.be

The Hill's full report is available at this link.