Trump’s 'violent rhetoric' is 'designed to get someone killed': legal expert

2024 GOP presidential Donald Trump has been furiously railing against a variety of foes, from New York State Attorney General Letitia James and Fulton County, Georgia District Attorney Fani Willis to former Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Mark Milley. On his Truth Social platform, Trump even suggested that Gen. Milley should be executed.

In a blistering article published by The Nation on October 3, progressive legal expert and frequent MSNBC guest Elie Mystal warns that "promoting violence" isn't a mere afterthought for Trump — it is a key part of his game plan.

"I cannot actually list all the people Donald Trump has wished to harm with physical violence," Mystal argues. "They include most of his political opponents, often along with their families; every prosecutor who has investigated or indicted him; nearly every judge who has presided over one of his cases, protesters; hecklers; former Vice President Mike Pence…. I also can't comprehensively list all the people of color whom Trump has tried to nudge his white-supremacist supporters to harm, but an abbreviated list includes Khizr and Ghazala Khan, Colin Kaepernick, Alvin Bragg, Fani Willis, Ruby Freeman, Shaye Moss, and basically every Black person who can't rap."

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Trump recently attacked James as a "racist" and told reporters, "(You) ought to go after this attorney general."

"Trump will most likely get away with threatening the prosecutor in his case, again, because he intuitively understands the value of vague language," Mystal writes. "'You' could be anybody, and 'go after' could mean anything. Don't get me wrong. I'm not an idiot; I know perfectly well that the 'you' is his army of MAGAs who are dumb enough to, say, storm the U.S. Capitol. And the 'go after' means that he wants them to hurt James. But what I know and what I can prove are two different things…. Trump's rhetoric is designed to get someone killed."

Mystal argues that Trump is "threatening" James and others because he "hopes somebody will act on it."

"Trump has faced no consequences for his violent rhetoric in the past, so he will keep going back to that well," Mystal warns. "It won't end until he is brought to justice and jailed. The only question is whether he'll get anybody else killed on his way down."

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Read Elie Mystal's full article for The Nation at this link.