Many are expressing outrage at former President Donald Trump targeting a daughter to the judge in his New York City criminal case that is quickly approaching trial next month. Trump is trying to make a big deal out of purported political activities of the judge’s family member, using the connection as part of his characteristic allegations of political bias supposedly lying behind his courtroom challenges.
But there’s already a precedent of some using Trump’s rhetoric in pursuing violence or at least the threat of it. Just look at the Capitol riot in early 2021!
“What a pathetically weak man and consummate coward for Donald Trump to falsely attack Judge Merchan’s daughter, again and again, a young woman who has absolutely nothing to do with his case in New York City. Every day, Trump proves himself unfit for high office, and an embarrassment to America,” John Dean, a former figure on Richard Nixon’s presidential team-turned-contributor for CNN, said.
Notably, ex-GOP Congresswoman Liz Cheney of Wyoming asserted amid these same developments that Trump “knows” his commentary will produce threats of violence. “Trump is repeatedly and maliciously attacking a judge’s daughter on social media,” Cheney wrote on X, the platform formerly called Twitter. “He knows this will bring threats of violence against her and the judge. […] This unconscionable behavior shows yet again why he is unfit for any office.”
Trump was recently put under a gag order in the local criminal case in Manhattan, which accuses the ex-president of falsifying business records in connection with hush money from before the 2016 elections. The prosecution and defense are disputing whether its terms block rhetoric of the sort that Trump has been using against the judge’s daughter. Prosecutors have asked that the judge “clarify or confirm” the order’s presumed (by them) extension to that area, which Trump’s defense predictably opposed in a response. The order specifically names jurors (both prospective and actual), witnesses, and others as among those who are broadly protected.
