Trump escalates worrying rhetoric in fiery statement

Donald Trump has hinted that he might imprison his political opponents if he is reelected in November. What exactly did the former president say, and what could it mean for the country if Trump follows through with his threats?

The former president got himself into some hot water during an interview with Newsmax host Greg Kelly on June 4th when a question about Trump’s recent conviction morphed into a rant about his political opponents. 

Mediaite covered the essentials of what happened and the whole situation started after Kelly asked the former president if his conviction in New York was going to help him get reelected by voters in November. 

“Is it possible that this is a net positive?” Kelly asked. “A lot of money is coming in, a lot of support. Is it a net positive?” Trump dodged the question at first with a reply that was quite bombastic in its attack on others. 

“Well, they’re nasty people,” Trump said. “They’re crooked as h***. They’re nasty, vicious people,” he added before asking out loud if the terrible precedent that his conviction set meant the next president would do it to his opponents. 

“Does that mean the next president does it to them? That’s really the question,” Trump said before we went on a rant about Hillary Clinton and how people would chant ‘lock her up’ but saying that putting her in prison would be a terrible thing. 

You know, I said on a recent show that I did, a good show… when I mentioned Hillary’s name, they’d all scream “Lock her up! Lock her up! Lock her up! And everybody got a kick out of it and all," Trump explained. 

“And wouldn’t it be really bad like, as an example, Hillary with the hammering of her cell phones and all of the things she did, but wouldn’t it be terrible to throw the president’s wife and the former secretary of state,” Trump added. 

“You think of it, the former secretary of state, but the president, the president’s wife into jail. Wouldn’t that be a terrible thing? But they want to do it. So, you know, it’s like it’s, it’s a terrible, terrible path that they’re leading us to,” Trump continued. 

The argument the former president was making made sense if you look at what he was experiencing through the eyes of a man who doesn’t believe he has committed a crime but ended by saying: “It’s very possible that it’s gonna have to happen to them.”

Mediaite noted that Trump suggested he might use the Federal Bureau of Investigation to target his political opponents in 2023, and the U.S. news outlet reported the former president went on to tell Newsmax that it would have been easy to prosecute Clinton after his 2016 win.  

“I thought it would be a terrible precedent for our country,” Trump said on why he didn’t prosecute Clinton. “And now, whoever it may be, you’re gonna have to view it very much differently. This is a bad, bad road that they’re leading us down to as a country.”

Trump’s comments sent shockwaves through the media but it only took 24 hours for the former president to outdo himself and tell the world that he had “every right” to go after his political opponents during a June interview with Fox News’ Sean Hannity.

“Look, when this election is over, based on what they’ve done, I would have every right to go after them, and it would be easy because it’s Joe Biden,” Trump explained according to CNN. But he may not be able to see that his remarks are a dangerous precedent for the country. 

Whether he knows it or not, Trump is laying the groundwork for this base to accept any future political prosecution he might carry out if he wins the election in November, and while Trump may feel justified, he seems to be the only one who has broken the law. 

“America saw Donald Trump consumed by rage and visibly rattled following his felony conviction; a man who has clearly snapped and whose candidacy is becoming more dangerous by the day,” Biden campaign spokesperson Michael Tyler said about Trump's remarks. 

“Donald Trump is so consumed with personal grievances that he does not care who he hurts so long as Donald Trump benefits,” Tyler added. But whether or not Trump will lash out if he wins in November and go after his opponents has yet to be seen. 

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