Populist violence

Former US President Donald Trump has been making increasingly unhinged statements in his desperation to avoid jail time, most recently with a ‘warning’ that holding him accountable for his alleged crimes could lead to “death and destruction”. Trump is already the only US president to have defended a terrorist attack against the US — the assault on the Capitol by his supporters that was inspired by his lies about the result of the 2020 election. Now, he appears to be threatening civil war. However, despite continuing high attendance at his rallies, his calls for protesters to line up outside his home and the court have failed miserably, showing that even the most extreme supporters of populists will stop showing up if the leader refuses to leave his high tower.

Still, given America’s gun violence problem and Trump’s strong support base among white supremacists and other violent xenophobic groups, the threat of violence is a legitimate concern. The problem is complicated by the fact that ‘mainstream’ Republicans are echoing Trump’s lies about being innocent or that the charges are political. The fact is that a crime did take place, as Trump’s lawyers have indirectly admitted. The question is only whether Trump can be held responsible, and the former president has not been doing himself any favours, constantly changing his version of events. Most recently, he was indirectly quoted as saying that he wanted the illegal payments made to avoid his wife finding out about the affair, which he has publicly denied ever took place, or that he had knowledge of any hush money payments until after the fact.

Meanwhile, away from his personal indiscretions and illegal payoffs to mistresses, Trump faces far greater legal liability because of his outright attempts at election rigging in Georgia and his ‘mishandling’ of classified documents. It is also not a coincidence that his latest rally was in Waco, Texas, where a massive, violent standoff between extremists and the government left 86 people dead in 1993. Like most populists, Trump wants his supporters to pay for his crimes.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 28^th, 2023.

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