Why it matters: Since he left office, Trump’s erratic behavior has been masked, numbed and normalized by the political fatigue permeating the media and the public.
- But his words’ violent turn in recent weeks — calling for a U.S. military leader to be executed, mocking a potentially fatal assault on a congressional spouse, urging police to shoot shoplifters — suggest a line has been crossed.
- On Tuesday, Judge Arthur Engoron, who’s presiding over Trump’s civil fraud trial in New York, imposed a gag order on Trump after the defendant attacked Engoron’s clerk online and posted a link to her Instagram account — while sitting in the same courtroom as her.
Zoom in: Political scientist Brian Klaas has coined it “the banality of crazy,” arguing that the press has wrongfully elevated concerns about President Biden’s age and frequent gaffes while downplaying Trump’s extremism.
- Much of the public may not be aware of Trump’s darkening rhetoric, Klaas writes, but “the people most likely to be radicalized by him or to act on his incitement already hear him, loud and clear.”
In speeches, interviews and on social media in recent weeks, Trump:
- Said former Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Mark Milley committed “treason” and suggested he be executed.
- Called for Judge Engoron to be disbarred, thrown out of office and criminally prosecuted, in addition to attacking the judge’s clerk.
- Labeled New York Attorney General Letitia James — who’s suing Trump for fraudulently inflating his wealth and assets on financial records — a “racist” and “a monster.”
- Said special counsel Jack Smith — who’s prosecuting Trump in the Jan. 6 and classified documents cases — is “deranged” and a “psycho” who “looks like a crackhead.”
- Posted online, “IF YOU GO AFTER ME, I’M COMING AFTER YOU!” — one day after swearing in federal court that he would not intimidate witnesses in the election interference case.
- Mocked Paul Pelosi after he was brutally assaulted by a home intruder who was searching for Pelosi’s wife, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.)
- Called for police to shoot shoplifters on sight.
- Said migrants illegally crossing into the U.S. are “poisoning the blood of our country.”