Maddow: Other arrested politicians never tried to break the rule of law the way Trump is threatening
Donald Trump spent the weekend sounding the alarm on the "witch hunt" that is after him for the hush money payments he gave to adult film star Stormy Daniels. At one point on Saturday, Trump ranted that he was to be arrested on Tuesday and that he desperately needed his supporters to show up and protest.
As of Monday afternoon, there were about five reporters per protester standing outside Trump Tower. Meanwhile, Trump's most loyal allies, like Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) were begging MAGA supporters not to enact any kind of violence.
MSNBC host Rachel Maddow began her Monday show by naming the dozens of politicians over the years who have been indicted and arrested — and whose mugshots were spread across the internet.
She reminded folks about former Vice President Spiro Agnew, who in 1973 swore he would never resign. A week later, he stepped down due to an indictment.
At no point, however, did any of those arrests lead to a breakdown of the law, much less violence on the streets.
On his social media account Sunday, Trump implied that police in the NYPD wouldn't want to be involved in arresting him since he's so loyal to them.
In Georgia, the state legislature passed a bill to remove prosecutors if people don't like who they're prosecuting. Gov. Brian Kemp (R-GA) said that he would sign it. While it hasn't been signed yet, the legislature is already at work to remove Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis from her elected position because of who the grand jury might recommend she indict. In a previous report, Maddow called it "authoritarian."
Disgraced former NYPD Commissioner Bernard Kerik called for law enforcement to mutiny. Law enforcement at all levels must refuse to enforce the law, he claimed, according to Maddow.
"It does not bend the Constitution, let alone break it to indict criminals for crimes, even when the alleged criminal is someone who has been elected to a very important job," she explained. "It's run-of-the-mill public corruption enforcement in this country, and we do it all the time. And there is no reason why a former president should be magically immune from the same legal system that just in the past three years has put handcuffs on at least 13 state senators, 17 state representatives, one serving congressman, one former congressman, the Delaware state auditor, the North Carolina Republican Party chair, the insurance commissioner of Georgia, too many counselors, aldermen, executives and mayors to count. It happens all the time. It really does not have to be the end of the world."
She went on to say that if anyone is telling you that an indictment of this public official is something they've never seen before and that there will be an unstoppable civil war, it's because that's what they secretly want.
"Anybody telling you that is the consequence of him being potentially indicted, well, that person may be wishing for that, but there is no reason that something like that is inevitable," said Maddow. "This is not something coming up that is extraneous to our system that we need to invent something new to contend with. The bottom line here is that prosecuting public officials and former public officials — it happens all the time in the United States of America. And it never engenders violence. And it never endangers the country, and it doesn't require our legal system to be fundamentally rethought or dismantled."
See her comments in the clip below or at the link here.
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