Tuesday may or may not be the day former President Donald Trump gets arrested and indicted for his alleged role in a hush money scheme involving a former porn star with whom he had an extramarital affair.
It depends on whether you believe Trump, who has always had a penchant for lying and obfuscating, and his social media tirades since Saturday morning. He claims (without evidence) that Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg is the head of the latest witch hunt against him, and that his ardent supporters should “PROTEST, TAKE OUR NATION BACK” should Trump be formally charged with a crime.
It should not be lost on anyone that Trump is using similar rhetoric now to what he used ahead of the Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.
So much for his alleged belief in “LAW & ORDER!”
For weeks ahead of the violent putsch by his supporters, Trump whipped them into a frenzy with lie after lie about “stolen” elections. He tweeted three weeks ahead of the incident that his followers should come to a Jan. 6 protest (“Be there, will be wild!” were his exact words).
And just hours before the attack, Trump told his followers to “fight like hell,” because “if you don’t fight like hell, you’re not going to have a country anymore.”
The end result was the first violent interruption of the peaceful transfer in power in our history, and the first attack on our Capitol since the War of 1812 — both of which were clearly stoked and inflamed by Trump.
And now, with the possibility of his indictment looming large, Trump is again calling for his devout followers to come to his rescue and protest on his behalf — just as they did on Jan. 6, 2021.
It didn’t work then, of course. The putsch didn’t stop the peaceful transfer of power. It did result in a thousand people being arrested, prosecuted and either pleading guilty or being convicted of federal charges.
Of course, Trump never bailed them out or came to their aid after they did his dirty work.
Now he wants his mob to protest and intervene as indictment looms. And if Jan. 6 was any indication, untold numbers of NYPD officers and other law enforcement agents will be at risk of harm.
New York will not stand for a repeat of Jan. 6. The protesters should know that. New York’s Finest will enforce both law and order, and those who lash out against them will be arrested and prosecuted.
And if you violently protest or interfere with Trump’s arrest, you will see the inside of a New York jail cell — but don’t expect to find the former president in there with you, or waiting to bail you out.
