(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Chutkan should grant gag order on Trump. And when he inevitably violates it, make him pay for it [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.', 'Daily Kos Staff Emeritus'] Date: 2023-09-28 This is my second and final essay on this subject. The consensus of the political cogniscenti these days is that whether or not Donald Trump is convicted for any of the outlawry the four indictments assert he engaged in, no way is he going to be president short of another attempted coup. With everything that’s giving us the jitters in today’s whirligig world, this widespread confidence that the man, who since Tuesday is officially a crook, won’t return to the White House for another round of bombast, grift, and fascist emulation is somewhat comforting. One thing to scratch off the worry list. But how much damage is he going to cause while not getting elected again? It could be serious, even lethal, if he keeps getting away with his incitement and intimidation since the indictments were handed down. Stochastic violence is no joke. The specific consequences of his flagrant behavior cannot be predicted, but it’s easy to imagine the possibilities. I won’t write any here; everyone can do that on their own. Trump should not be allowed to continue mouthing off like this for several more months. As numerous legal experts besides those on CNN and MSNBC have noted, if this were any other person, Trump would most assuredly already be detained somewhere, permitted to talk only to family and lawyers. But they add, there is a political danger to doing to him what would be done in virtually every other instance. In a country so sharply divided, they say, where death threats have become a normalized cost of public service, locking up a former president who is running to be the future president poses risks of additional violence and a threat to the democratic system itself. The courts should not act precipitously, so goes the reasoning. And we must think of how a pre-trial penalizing of Trump might affect the coming elections. This is an historic moment, an unprecedented circumstance, so we should be beware. That last is quite true. While we’ve had presidents some of whose conduct was absolutely despicable, it is unprecedented to have one who attempted a multi-faceted coup, which, had it won the day, might have meant the lynching of the vice president. Nor one who tried to strong-arm secretaries of state over vote counts. Nor who grabbed secret documents as souvenirs to show off and possibly sell or use as leverage in some fashion that might endanger Americans or U.S. diplomacy. If other presidents have threatened witnesses, they’ve done it quietly. Trump has openly done so. Most recently, he went even farther. We have had presidents who fired generals. Lincoln and Truman did. But neither they nor any other president ever suggested the top U.S. general should be executed. Yet retiring chairman of the Joint Chiefs Mark Milley says he has had to take precautions for his and his family’s safety after Trump suggested his death for supposed treason. Trump seems to think Vladimir Putin has the right idea about how to treat generals and other prominent people who cross or merely irk him. How long is the former president going to get away with this? Okay. Although I’ve had plenty of interaction with the American justice system over the years—as reporter, activist, arrestee, inmate, and government target—I am not a lawyer. I don’t understand all the ins and outs of judicial rules and ethics. I acknowledge the above political considerations about a potentially nasty reaction from a significant portion of the populace if Trump were to be detained or even heavily fined before going to trial. I certainly don’t have the credentials to second-guess Judge Tanya Chutkan, whose every move in this case so far seems on the mark. But right now she is considering a request from special counsel Jack Smith to issue a narrowly drawn gag order to bar Trump specifically from further intimidation of witnesses or make certain other inflammatory statements, and I sure hope she grants it. Whether a gag order is issued or not, however, Chutkan’s original admonition still stands. Trump was already warned. We all know what warnings without enforcing consequences are worth. My preference, as I have made clear, is that he gets locked up. That is exactly what would happen to anybody else who had behaved post-indictment as Trump has. There are people across the country who stole a television or got into a bar fight who are in jail for months awaiting trial because they cannot make bail. At any rate, gag order or no, detention probably wouldn’t be Chutkan’s first choice if and when she gets fed up with Trump thumbing his nose at her warnings. More like a serious fine. And maybe move his trial back a month from the current March 4 date. A financial rap on the knuckles, together with a warning that next time he will be detained. I think that would just delay the inevitable, but it would be a start. It’s obvious that Trump will keep doing what he’s doing until he is made to quit. He has lived his entire life demanding not to be treated like other people. That has to stop. His very next death threat or attempt at intimidation should be cause for serious judicial intervention, gag order or not. Besides everything else, he has behaved like a mob boss, so treat him like one. 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