One of the many oddities of Donald Trump’s presidency was his habit of calling for the criminal prosecution of his perceived political foes. It’s one thing for presidents to criticize their opponents; it’s something else for presidents to routinely and falsely accuse their opponents of felonies.
And yet, Trump couldn’t seem to help himself. Over the course of four years, the Republican voiced support, for example, for prosecuting Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, and Joe Biden. He has called for criminal investigations into former Secretary of State John Kerry, House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, Sen. Richard Blumenthal, Sen. Chris Murphy, and former FBI Director James Comey.
That was while Trump was in office. Now that he’s out of office, he’s issuing unintentionally amusing written statements like these:
“All the Democrats want to do is put people in jail. They are vicious, violent, and Radical Left thugs. They are destroying people’s lives, which is the only thing they are good at. They couldn’t get out of Afghanistan without disgracing our Country. The economy and inflation are a disaster. They’re letting thugs and murderers into our Country — their DA’s, AG’s, and Dem Law Enforcement are out of control. This is what happens in communist countries and dictatorships, and they don’t think they’ll be held accountable for rigging the 2020 Presidential Election. The Jan. 6 Unselect Committee is a coverup for what took place on November 3rd, and the people of our Country won’t stand for it.”
There’s obviously no point in trying to fact-check each of these absurd claims. Needless to say, there’s nonsense in literally every sentence of the written statement.
But stepping back, the larger question is why Trump felt compelled to issue the statement in the first place. Why lash out at law enforcement, district attorneys, attorneys general, and the congressional investigation into the Jan. 6 attack?
Is it possible that the former president recently received an unpleasant briefing from his legal team? Let’s not forget that Trump is currently facing a criminal inquiry, multiple civil suits, criminal charges against his private business, and a grand jury investigation into his financial practices. Meanwhile, two Republican members of the committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack have separately raised the prospect of the former president possibly having committed crimes, and their bipartisan panel is pursuing this line of inquiry. Perhaps it’s not too surprising, then, to see Trump whining along these lines?
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."
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