Trump has 'never been more dangerous' because he knows no one will stop his lawlessness: columnist

President Donald Trump's poll numbers have risen since his acquittal by the United States Senate, and New York Magazine columnist Eric Levitz argues that this means he's "never been more dangerous."

In his column, Levitz points to reports that Trump is conducting a systematic purge of government officials whom he believes are "disloyal" to him as evidence that he has only been emboldened by getting let off the hook for both potential criminal obstruction of justice in special counsel Robert Mueller's probe, and for his attempt to extort the Ukrainian government for dirt on former Vice President Joe Biden.

"Taken together, Trump’s escalating authoritarianism and rising popularity make the present moment the most harrowing of his presidency thus far," he writes. "With the anticlimactic end of the Mueller investigation, Trump learned that federal law enforcement cannot (or will not) hold him accountable for abuses of power. With his Senate acquittal, he secured confirmation that Congress won’t either."

Levitz thinks Trump is also being emboldened by a divisive Democratic primary in which the president's political rivals are all attacking one another instead of the man in the White House.

"The quicker Democrats can resolve their primary, the sooner they can redirect media attention toward Trump’s lawlessness, and their own focus toward the task of ensuring the president pays a belated price for that lawlessness come November," he concludes.

Read the whole column here.