“And so it begins,” said Eugene Robinson in The Washington Post. “The masks, or hoods, are coming off.” It was only a matter of time before the angry rhetoric directed at the officials holding Donald Trump to account became “explicitly violent and racist”.
‘Behind bars for contempt’
Trump bears much of the blame for this situation, said Maggie Haberman in The New York Times. He has repeatedly attacked those involved in the criminal cases against him. He has described Jack Smith, the special counsel who brought the two federal indictments, as “deranged” and baselessly suggested that he takes drugs.
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On his social media website, Truth Social, Trump wrote of Chutkan: “She obviously wants me behind bars. VERY BIASED & UNFAIR.” He also declared there last week: “IF YOU GO AFTER ME, I’M COMING AFTER YOU!” Some lawyers have argued that if Trump were an ordinary citizen issuing these attacks, he’d be behind bars for contempt by now. Chutkan has merely warned him against making “inflammatory” statements, while suggesting she may be forced to bring his trial forward to protect the jury.
‘Public servants not folk heroes’
Attempts to persecute judges and prosecutors are inexcusable, said Michael Schaffer on Politico. It doesn’t help, though, when people go too far the other way and treat them as folk heroes. As soon as Chutkan was assigned Trump’s case, T-shirts were made emblazoned with slogans such as “Judge Chutkan Fan Club”.
Other officials in Trump’s crosshairs have been similarly lionised. I understand the impulse to “show what side you’re on”, but liberals should desist. It only fuels Trump’s claims of bias. If progressives want to hero worship “people who battle Trump, they ought to stick to folks who go out and get elected – not public servants doing an officially apolitical job”.
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