Donald Trump proved he still has the power to shock with statements over the weekend defending seditionists, attacking prosecutors, and actually admitting his goal was for Mike Pence to have "overturned the election."
"Former President Donald Trump conjured a vision of a second term that would function as a tool of personal vengeance, and become even more authoritarian than his first, when he vowed to pardon US Capitol insurrectionists if he runs for the White House again and wins," CNN's Stephen Collinson reported. "As well as further threatening US democracy on Saturday night, Trump was preoccupied with his personal legal exposure. He fired off a wild attack, which looked to be racially-motivated, on two Black New York prosecutors investigating whether his business empire deliberately falsified accounts to get preferential treatment on loans and income taxes."
Following Trump's rally, Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis asked the FBI to help with security for staff and buildings.
Trump's statements may be hurting Republicans in the midterm elections.
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"With Trump and his fans already referring to him as the 45th and the 47th President, his fixation with the 2020 election may also represent a growing problem for the Republican Party. In the midterm elections in November and beyond, the GOP wants to build a case that Biden is weak, flailing at home and abroad and has lost his grip on inflation. But Trump, who wants to use the elections to demonstrate his hold on the GOP grassroots, threatens to detract from that simple Republican message," Collinson wrote.
Watergate figure John Dean warned Trump's comments were "beyond being a demagogue to the stuff of dictators. He is defying the rule of law. Failure to confront a tyrant only encourages bad behavior. If thinking Americans don’t understand what Trump is doing and what the criminal justice system must do we are all in big trouble!"
Progressive CNN opinion writer Dean Obeidallah said Trump's comments should be disqualifying.
"The former president's suggestion of pardons for those who waged the January 6 attack to stop the peaceful transfer of power should disqualify him from ever holding office again. The same should be true if Trump calls on thousands to flood the streets to protest any criminal charges leveled against him personally -- even if that leads to violence," he wrote.
Former Ted Cruz speechwriter Amanda Carpenter agreed, posting a thread on Twitter explaining why Trump should be disqualified from ever running again.
IN OTHER NEWS: George Conway: Time to read Trump 'his Miranda rights' after weekend outburst