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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsTrump Biographer Says Trump Will 'Travel the Country Fomenting Violence' if He's Not 'Put in Jail'
Audio at the link:
https://www.mediaite.com/radio/trump-biographer-says-trump-will-travel-the-country-fomenting-violence-if-hes-not-put-in-jail/
Speaking with Obeidallah on The Dean Obeidallah Show, Johnston argued Trump is a different person than President Richard Nixon and that Nixon realized it would be bad to put the country through an arduous impeachment trial. Nixon was not impeached, though the House of Representatives had drafted articles of impeachment before Nixons resignation.
Nixon realized that the game was up, there was no point in putting the country through this [impeachment and removal] he knew it was not good for the country, thats why I say Richard Nixon at the end of the day was a patriot, he said.
Johnston, a Pulitzer Prize winner, told Obeidallah that he thinks Trump would need to be prosecuted and put in jail, otherwise he would spend his time traveling the country fomenting violence.
In the case of Trump, we face a different problem, Johnston said. Even if Trump is convicted and removed and we get briefly Mike Pence as President, thats not enough. Trump will spend the rest of his life traveling the country fomenting violence. Hes already fomenting violence. He has asked crowds as a candidate to beat people up. So its I think its vital he needs to be prosecuted for the many, many, many crimes he has committed and put in jail.
-snip-
Response to highplainsdem (Original post)
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Maru Kitteh
(28,342 posts)Hekate
(90,793 posts)...a "civil war" could be "localized"?
Roy Rolling
(6,933 posts)Aussie should delete the comment encouraging violence. A Civil War is the fantasy of every right-wing nutjob and an inappropriate suggestion for peaceful Democratic voters.
Newest Reality
(12,712 posts)That we have a classic example of a stochastic terrorist on our hands here. That's really the term that I think fits best as far as how he injects violent ideas and implications into his crowds and via media. Even his projection that cops and the military love him is an extension of that by way of implication.
So, yes, we have a dangerous manipulator who would most likely hold a deep grudge than just walk away and let it go. However, that is just a speculation. I don't know if it is possible to really predict his outcome considering how many obvious and serious personality disorders he has been harboring all these years without much in the way of real consequences for his actions, which I think spurs him on.
We could assume that if he takes his stochastic terrorism on the road as a citizen, that will have some serious, legal retribution and it will be much harder for him to evade the repercussions.
In our speculations, we just don't know if he will stay, walk or even face prison. There is the notion that he seems to be his own worse enemy often and that might have some deeper implications than the superficial persona he exhibits, which is a calculated, manipulative front in my opinion with expected results on his part.
Skittles
(153,193 posts)that's part of the objective of his hate rallies
Hekate
(90,793 posts)How I wish he could get the ass-kicking he so richly deserves
Eliot Rosewater
(31,121 posts)day
chaos
cant count votes
stays in power
erronis
(15,328 posts)Eliot Rosewater
(31,121 posts)Snackshack
(2,541 posts)There is only one scenario where DT leaves the office and does not go around fomenting the violence that Mr. Johnson describes all other scenarios (impeachment/ removal, voted out, resignation, term ending) will result in DT being all over Twitter/TV/Radio criticizing the new presidents decisions and proclaiming how he would have made the perfect call/ decision/ choices etc. DT will not observe the tradition of respect past presidents have observed/extended of being low profile/ quite like Clinton was with Bush Jr or Bush Jr to Obama or Obama with DT.
erronis
(15,328 posts)Not that this is likely with such a healthy specimen <sarcasm/>
Hekate
(90,793 posts)Of course, with his cult members, gods know what they'll believe.
LastLiberal in PalmSprings
(12,592 posts)I'd go piss on it, but I hate to stand in lines.
An acute traumatic medical event is what I meant with the first scenario I just did not articulate it correctly. But that scenario guarantees post presidency silence.
inwiththenew
(972 posts)Not even "St. Ronnie" had as fervid of followers as this. I mean it's not everyone who voted for him but even if it's only 10% that's still like 5 million people. They will still listen to him even if he's out of office.
Maru Kitteh
(28,342 posts)"The BEST President in history except perhaps the late great Abraham Lincoln, and maybe even him."
VOX
(22,976 posts)They are fully invested in this psychotic crook. Hes been sent by GAWD to be their avenging angel. They dont care what he does (or has done) thats overtly criminal, theyre just happy to bask in the glow of owning the libs.
Its way past time to break up their hate-filled party.
certainot
(9,090 posts)all democrats have to do is stop ignoring talk radio
they need to start replying to the trump lies with "well, that's what limnbaugh has been saying a lot but it's a lie" or "just because limnbuaugh says it over and over doesn't mean it's a fact, just the opposite" etc
and when dems expose that limnbag has been used by putinfor 10 years
that will separate the sefcondary talk radio audience from the true base and the true base are cowardly authoritarians who will slink away.
and americans need to start protesting the 87 universities that broadcast sports on 260 limnbaugh stations until the schools start looking for alternatives - advertisers will head for the hills and trump's most important ally will fall aapart
marieo1
(1,402 posts)David Cay Johnston is a hero - I very much respect his opinion. He always is right - I believe him!! DJT is a 'loose screw' and he is able to excite other 'loose screws' to do whatever he encourages them to do.
He tried to warn the country, before the election.
I remember hearing an interview with him back in 2016 wherein he described Donald's (how Johnston refers to him) mobbed-up history, and thinking "Why isn't this the #1 story about him?" Already back then it was obvious he was getting a pass from the media.
Garrett78
(10,721 posts)Baked Potato
(7,733 posts)Hes a quitter at heart and will fade quick. He really doesnt want civil unrest because it will affect his bank account and properties worldwide.
How hard would it be to occupy a freakin golf course and cause mayhem? Or a hotel? Thats his conundrum, he has too much exposure to be the cause of unrest.
woodsprite
(11,924 posts)MarianJack
(10,237 posts)Tricky Dickie was a much better man than Dolt45.
I can imagine my father's ashes making a tornado in his urn at the notion of Nixon being a better man than anyone. Yikes.
RESIST!
maddiemom
(5,106 posts)Nixon's ambitions were far different than Trump's are. Nixon wanted to go down in history as a great statesman and leader, and had vast experience in government. True, he was paranoid and petty in many ways, and didn't balk at underhanded methods in getting what he felt was his due. But TRUMP! Words fail me. I voted AGAINST Nixon the first time I was old enough to vote, but his insecurities manifested themselves very differently from Trump's greed and pride in being the biggest conman he can possibly be.
ChazInAz
(2,572 posts)patphil
(6,207 posts)YOHABLO
(7,358 posts)GoCubsGo
(32,088 posts)Evolve Dammit
(16,763 posts)smirkymonkey
(63,221 posts)I know that sounds extreme, but it's true. He needs to go permanently. Whether put in prison for the rest of his life or another way, he needs to be removed from society.
Grasswire2
(13,571 posts)....and doing business. Him and his family too. Otherwise he and they will seek vengeance by stoking a cult rebellion. You know he will. And he will love it.
There's a good strong argument for the Rosenberg remedy for treason.
Pachamama
(16,887 posts)Completely agree
Grasswire2
(13,571 posts)MUST NOT accept his succession as inevitable. Kristol was pushing that this week in the interest of peaceful transfer of power.
Do not fall for it. There lies a trap.
Stargazer09
(2,132 posts)I dont buy his pious, oh so innocent B.S. Pence is dirty, evil, and stupid.
Beartracks
(12,821 posts)UTUSN
(70,740 posts)treestar
(82,383 posts)That he does not care what happens to anything but his ego
True Blue American
(17,988 posts)Into dementia in a couple of years he will noy know anything. He is getting there now. He sounds like a broken record, is having trouble,reading, speaking. Shows all the signs I have seen so often. Many also get mean. He already is.
BSdetect
(8,999 posts)LudwigPastorius
(9,170 posts)Nope.
He was a criminal, who put himself before his country.
The only reason Nixon quit was because the GOP Congressional leadership walked into the Oval Office and told him that they would not stand in the way of impeachment, nor vote to acquit him in an impeachment trial.
Nixon chose the option with less ignominy, resignation. Nixon was a crook, but an intelligent crook.
Trump, on the other hand, is dense, deranged, and a traitor.
trof
(54,256 posts)VOX
(22,976 posts)He seems to have a permanent-mushroom-sized (apologies, Stormy Daniels) soft-on for Russia, anyway. Maybe Putin will set him up as a phony oligarch. Although we know what Putin does to those who dont deliver the goods.
DJT, you traitorous pile of excrement, you fake-tanned shitgibbon from hell, you superglue your lips to the asses of the worlds dictators. You chew Adderall like after-dinner mints, then go onstage in some musty auditorium in Lickspittle, Mississippi, and riff on the same shit youve been barfing out since 2017, which, served after the interactive lock her up aphrodisiac chant, will eventually begin to bore the living crap out of even the most MAGAT-y of MAGAts. You BROKE this country in two, by dragging Republicans to the shameful far, far right, aka fascism. Youve elevated the idiotic and squelched the monumental. You deliberately incite violence and spread lies, disinformation and hatred. Youd be a 100% match for Germany, c. 1933.
If there truly were a just and merciful sky-god, your tongue would cleave to the roof of your mouth.
Enjoy Siberia, asshole.
Roy Rolling
(6,933 posts)One stock market crash and his supporters will be worried they lost their job because of Trump and rich Republicans.
Thats why hes pulling out all the stops to prop up the stock market. If it collapses, so does the Trump support.
Sadly for him, hes taught people to throw someone under the bus.
llashram
(6,265 posts)he's dangerous to our, at all times, tenuous social cohesiveness. He would, I think related to this biographer analysis, be the catalyst to push this country into the abyss of chaos and open violence in the streets at racial and cultural differences and the violence associated with those RW 'demons' as they see all not christian white and male-female.
Texin
(2,597 posts)I think he'll try that - for awhile. But the reality is, when he no longer has the bully pulpit of the presidency* to bolster him, he'll become just another washed up former reality tv star. If The Love Boat were still around he could probably get a guest cameo on such a show, but I think he will only have very limited appeal. When a person isn't on the airwaves every day or once weekly, they fade from memory. Besides which, he's going to be very busy trying to stay out of prison. I guess he'll always have Twitter - maybe if they don't ban him (and I think the chances of that happening are pretty good given the fact he wouldn't be President* any longer).
Enoki33
(1,587 posts)the minds of his more ignorant supporters in furtherance of his quest to hold on to power. Once that power goal is no longer achievable he will more likely concentrate on holding unto his ill gotten wealth. Any possibility of losing it will redirect him. He literally feels worthless as a person without money, and that is the key to restraining the monster. The other alternative would be to jail him for his crimes and throw away the key long enough to allow dementia to make him ineffective.
Pepsidog
(6,254 posts)LiberalLovinLug
(14,176 posts)Even if he is sitting in a jail cell, maybe that would even bolster his image all the more, he'll now always have a rabid following who will forever believe he was persecuted unfairly and was the best President they have ever had.
In fact, when he is released, or pardoned, I can see him getting a bump. And he'll fill arenas again. If he doesn't or can't run in 2020...would he be eligible to run for a second term in 2024, or 2028? How does that work?
certainot
(9,090 posts)in history