Trump taking 'unthinkable' risks palling around with criminals: Ex-GOP insider

Donald Trump is openly associating with accused criminals and convicted felons as he leans into an outlaw image.

The former president and presumptive Republican presidential nominee has rallied alongside two rap performers accused of conspiracy to commit murder, promised to commute the sentence of an internet drug dealer and pledged to pardon the Jan. 6 rioters, and Trump is embracing criminality after being charged with more than 90 felonies and indicted four times, reported the New York Times.

“I don’t think people appreciate the degree to which Trump has embraced the image of lawlessness in this campaign,” said former Republican strategist Tim Miller, who worked for Jeb Bush’s presidential campaign. "[His guests present] a vetting decision that would have been unthinkable in past campaigns.”

Trump has campaigned in the past on a "law and order" message, but dozens of his allies have been charged with attempting to subvert the 2020 election results and hundreds of his followers have been charged with storming the U.S. Capitol to prevent the peaceful transfer of power, and his supporters have violently threatened prosecutors and officers of the court involved in cases against him.

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“He either does not know the truth, which is reckless, or he knows the truth and lied about it, which is abhorrent,” said Chuck Rosenberg, a former United States attorney and F.B.I. official.

“He cares very much about wielding power, but not in service of some greater good,” Rosenberg added. “Rather, he wants power — including over the Justice Department — to benefit himself and his friends, and to harm others. He sees that power as only appropriate in his hands. That is a wretched corruption of what the rule of law means — and ought to mean — in this country, and it is deeply dangerous.”