Trump Must Be Jailed — Now
Trump is a private citizen who caused a deadly insurrection in January 2021 and whose constant threats have inspired his worshippers to terrorize, harrass, and ruin the lives of innocent people.
On August 3, 2023, U.S. Magistrate Judge Moxila Upadhyaya told Donald Trump that if he attempted to “influence a juror or try to threaten or bribe a witness or retaliate against anyone” regarding his federal indictment for attempting to overturn the 2020 election, that would violate the terms of his bail, and he would face the possibility of pre-trial detention, i.e., being held in jail until the trial began. Judge Upadhyaya asked Trump if he understood and agreed to these conditions. Trump said he did.
Within 24 hours, Trump issued a general threat — what Salon’s Amanda Marcotte called an “all-caps challenge to the judge’s authority” — “IF YOU GO AFTER ME, I’M COMING AFTER YOU!” In the two weeks since, Trump has spewed his and unhinged and uncontrollable madness in all directions, acting out like a tired and cranky two-year-old.
Five days ago, U.S. District Court Judge Tanya Chutkan warned Trump: “I will take whatever measures are necessary to safeguard the integrity of these proceedings.”
As Marcotte outlines, Trump’s response was to deliver a steady stream of “unhinged rants on social media attacking the judge, the prosecutors and, in a direct violation of the order, potential witnesses he called out by name.” Trump has insulted Judge Chutkan, insulted federal prosecutor Jack Smith numerous times, named a key witness against him in the Georgia election case and suggested he might not want to testify against him, denigrated his former VP Mike Pence, who was in serious danger of being lynched at the Capitol by Trump’s minions and will also be (or his meeting notes will be) a key witness, and implied (lying in both a “dump”* and a campaign ad) that Atlanta prosecutor Fani Willis had a sexual relationship with a gang member.
[*: Trump posts neither “tweets” nor “truths”. He posts “dumps” — “big massive dumps”.]
Trump is publicly challenging Judge Chutkan. He’s telling the world that her instructions are bullshit and, therefore, he can do whatever the hell he wants whenever the hell he wants to do it. He believes he will not be detained before trial because he is “Donald J. Trump — John — Donald John Trump”, the Chosen One, the MAGA God, and as such, he is free to insult and threaten anyone he chooses because that is his absolute right, as it has been for his entire life — all “seven seven” years of it.
So far, Judge Chutkan seems to agree.
She has done nothing to show that there are any consequences to disobeying her court orders. Trump — who now has been indicted five times since March and faces nearly 100 criminal charges — is touring the country by private jet, speaking to admiring crowds, and ranting and raving online at all hours of the night and day. He can go wherever he wants, see whomever he wants to see, and say whatever he wishes to say, with no restrictions and no consequences. Trump is showing the world that Judge Chutkan is weak and her instructions are nothing but hot air.
Marcotte writes that it doesn’t have to be like this.
There’s an annoying tendency among the pundit class, however, to act like it’s completely out of the question for Trump’s bail to be revoked, which would silence him by sending him to jail (or possibly consigning him to house arrest). . . . [T]he conventional wisdom is echoed in former federal prosecutor Neama Rahmani’s comments to Salon: “Is a judge actually going to jail Donald Trump in the middle of a presidential campaign? Probably not.”
To which I say: Why not? Trump is a human being, approximately speaking, with a physical body that would fit quite nicely inside a jail cell. The only reason Trump is perceived as invincible is because he’s managed to hex almost everyone into believing that he’ll get away with everything, every single time. All we need to do to change that is to stop believing in the collective fiction of Trump’s impunity. It’s not a law of physics. Donald Trump can go to jail. The only thing that’s required is the will to make it happen.
It wasn’t long ago that the possibility of charging and indicting Trump for his numerous alleged crimes was routinely shrugged off as a #resistance fantasy. . . . The “unimaginable” can become reality. Trump is not physically impervious to justice. That imaginary protective shell around him is the result of choices of those in power, and it’s time for those people to make different choices.
In 2023, Trump is a private U.S. citizen — with exactly the same rights as any other U.S. citizen. But every other U.S. citizen would be jailed before trial and would never have the opportunity to say the insane things Trump has been saying. For the entire history of the United States, “equal justice under the law” has been nothing but five random words, without meaning.
Marcotte cites “the brutal assault on Paul Pelosi, husband of then-Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi” and “the recent arrest of someone who threatened Barack Obama after Trump posted the former president’s home address” as clear attempts by Trump supporters to commit (or attempt to commit) acts of deadly violence against people Trump has loudly claimed are his evil enemies.
What innocent person out there right now — talking to her child, watching TV, making dinner, mowing his lawn — is going to die because not one person with the power to contain Trump has the guts to treat him like the serious sociopathic threat to the general public he has shown himself numerous times to be?
Also: Trump agreed that tampering with witnesses could land him in jail until his trial. Trump then tampered with two witnesses: Mike Pence and Geoff Davis. . . . It’s your move, Judge Chutkan. Do your words have any meaning?
Marcotte:
Sure, [putting Trump in prison] could be logistical problems for the Secret Service . . . Those can surely be worked out. . . . [P]utting Trump under house arrest and depriving him of his phone [is] a lot better than doing nothing. . . .
[M]aking Trump shut up is crucial to public safety. One of the most dangerous aspects of Trump’s seeming invulnerability is that some of his followers start to believe they’re immune to all consequences themselves. . . .
Just last week, a self-proclaimed MAGA devotee was killed by the FBI, after waving a gun at agents and public threats against President Biden and other perceived Trump opponents. . . . With their hero’s flagrant refusal to respect a straightforward court order, this dangerous sense of entitlement will only get worse. . . .
Wealth and privilege are only impregnable barriers to accountability if we believe they are. . . . Trump’s belligerence is so over-the-top that it can bamboozle people into thinking that nothing can be done to stop him. But that act could collapse pretty fast if those who hold actual power stopped playing along.
Marcotte points out that Trump left the White House without incident on January 20, 2021, despite saying for months that he might not — he had talked publicly about staying in office more than eight years at least 46 times during his presidency — and schemeing to overthrow the government. But “his childish tantrum” didn’t enable him to stay in office “in perpetuity”. he turned tail and ran to his bedbug-invested gym/wedding space/hotel rather than face any kind of conflict.
Donald Trump is a coward. He can be contained and controlled, if he faces real consequences. Dealing with him just takes belief, imagination and some spine. It can be done.
Just fucking do it.