We Need to Talk About This

Today’s widely discussed Trump post on Truth Social isn’t just another instance of bad behavior. It’s not just a shrug of the shoulders and a resigned sigh of, “What are you going to do?” Far too often, people resignedly accept Trump’s behavior because they believe there’s no alternative. The zeitgeist is: We can’t make him stop, can we?

Here’s Trump’s Truth Social post. It’s a video, and although I hate to send you to Truth Social, you can watch the whole thing here. Or read on for my description. What you need to know is that this is unprecedented and out of bounds. If you or I did this, the Secret Service would be on our doorstep within hours.

Donald Trump, by the way, is out on bond ahead of trial in four separate criminal cases. Today, he threatened the President of the United States. It’s time for the people with authority to do so to deal with him. Sure, he’s the Republican Party’s presidential candidate, but they won’t reign him in. And someone is going to get hurt if he isn’t.

What is this? It’s a video that Trump posted on his Truth Social account today, around 12:38 p.m. The subject of the clip is two trucks in full “Trump 2024” regalia, driving down the highway. The second one has a full-size, full-color image across the back gate of Joe Biden, unconscious, arms and legs bound as though he’s been kidnapped and left in the back of the pickup truck. As the truck drives off the camera zooms in on the image, just to make sure there’s no missing it.

Trump supporters have claimed on social media that this was part of Trump’s drive to the wake for a slain police officer on Long Island today and that he probably didn’t even notice the photo of Joe Biden. They’re out on social media saying it’s not a threat. I won’t dignify any of that with a response.

I know from experience as a prosecutor how seriously the Secret Service takes every single threat, or anything close to a threat, made against the President of the United States. They take it seriously even when it looks like the person making it lacks any capacity to carry it out. They always check. They always have the talk.

Donald Trump is different from the person who makes a bad joke or an evil suggestion they don’t have the power to follow through on. We know, and more importantly, he knows, how his followers react when he suggests violence. It’s unthinkable, unconscionable for a former president to even intimate that violence against the current president is acceptable. I cannot imagine George W. Bush even joking about something like this when Barack Obama was in the White House, or Obama suggesting Trump should be kidnapped and trussed up in the back of a truck.

Trump is totally, and uniquely among our former presidents, out of bounds. It's time to stop letting him break the rules. We’re entitled to more, not less, accountability from our presidents than from average citizens.

No one is saying Trump can’t campaign or that he can’t criticize Biden. What he can’t do is suggest he should be kidnapped, knocked out, and bound in the back of a pickup truck. I can’t believe that I have to write that out—there is no universe in which that’s acceptable.

Did you hear anyone in his own party calling him out for that?

Of course you didn’t. We’re long past that point.

So, where is the Secret Service? I hope they had a serious talk with the former president this afternoon. But his post is still up on Truth Social, which suggests that either they didn’t or that, if they did, he didn’t take it very seriously.

Either way, that means something more is required.

This is a five-alarm fire. We know what the reaction would be if Joe Biden tweeted a photo of a bound and gagged Donald Trump in the trunk of an electric car. Why does Donald Trump get more leeway, especially with his past history? He only continues to get it because our institutions—the courts, the Republican party—let him take it.

One of the problems with Trump is that he goes right up to the line and then hovers on top of it in a way that gives him plausible deniability he hasn’t quite crossed over. That’s what he’s doing when he targets the Judge’s daughter in Manhattan, just like he targeted Judge Engoron’s law clerk, and just like his buddy Roger Stone quite literally targeted the Judge in his criminal case, posting a picture of her on Instagram in what looked like crosshairs. That’s what Trump did today, posting an image of a kidnapped President Biden while letting his followers put on the story it didn’t mean anything.

Actions have consequences. Judges have the ability to compel good behavior from defendants on bond pending trial in their court. They can go so far as taking away their guns once they’re indicted or prevent them from contacting and threatening witnesses and victims. They should tell him he can’t threaten the President of the United States. It’s time for the courts to stop bending over backward to protect Trump. He’s entitled to all the constitutional protections any other criminal defendant receives, but he’s not entitled to more.

Imagine the impact all of this is having on potential witnesses and jurors in the criminal cases against Trump. If Trump can get away with threatening a Judge’s daughter, if he can do this to the President of the United States, then what’s going to happen to them if they take the witness stand against him or vote to convict? Judges are entitled, in fact they’re obligated, to protect the integrity of the proceedings in their courtrooms. As long as Trump can slash and burn his way through the system, there is an enormous risk that jurors and witnesses will feel intimidated, and may turn away from their duty out of fears about their own and their loved ones’ safety. Trump speaks with a powerful megaphone. When he targeted Judge Engoron’s law clerk, a court security official reported she was subject to constant threats and harassment. Regular folks don’t have a Judge to step in or long-term protection. Trump knows what he’s doing. The Judges in his cases can step in and prevent Trump from doing more of it.

This is a weekend talking point for us, too, because as voters, we have the final say on who gets to be president. Make sure your friends, especially those who are undecided or intend to vote for Trump, know about this. Would it be okay to do this with a picture of a child’s teacher? Of a kid at school they don’t like? Then it shouldn’t be acceptable for a political candidate to do it to the President. It’s not a question of politics, it’s a question of basic decency. This is a powerful story about why Donald Trump is unfit to be president.

Try out a little civil discourse of your own this weekend and make sure that people who would see Trump back in office understand what Trump did here and what it means. And please share your experiences in the comments so we can all learn how to get better at having these often difficult but incredibly important conversations.

We’re in this together,

Joyce