Former GOP chair says Trump’s attacks on judges are ‘about bending the system to his will’
Trump keeps yelling "Fire!" into crowded theaters, according to former RNC chair Michael Steele.
"It just tells you how Donald Trump has twisted everything into a knot — this is all deliberate behavior," former RNC chair Michael Steele told an MSNBC host. "It's all about trying to bend the system to his will, to his direction."
Former President Donald Trump's attempt to remain unmuzzled was argued in a Court of Appeals hearing on Monday, with the judges grilling his attorney, John Sauer, to explain his legal position to quit the gag order imposed to prevent disparaging court officers and unveiling critical information in the 2020 federal election interference case.
Steele maintains that the 45th president is creating a distracting sideshow by intentionally "confusing political speech" on his platform TruthSocial.
Trump was rebuked last month after calling out Alison Greenfield, the principal law clerk to New York Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron, was the girlfriend of Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY), and pointed the finger at her for directing the $250 million fraud case filed against him being prosecuted by New York Attorney General Letitia James' team.
"Schumer’s girlfriend, [name], is running this case against me," Trump posted on Truth Social. "How disgraceful!"
He then claimed her involvement warranted the case "be dismissed immediately!!"
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Steele believes the power of Trump's typing thumbs from what may seem like an innocuous post can inspire others to act on it.
"At the end of the day, what the judges — the data here is the thread, the actions that followers take when they hear the hot rhetoric coming from him, what Trump is using is extensively using the first amendment to wrap himself in to say that 'I can say these things and that I'm not responsible for any of the consequences that come because it is all political.'"
"It's not."
He goes on: "The person who goes after a judge or goes after a clerk, or a prosecutor stalks them at home is no different than yelling 'Fire!' in a crowded theater."
In the end the words slung by Trump are actionable and carry a lot of weight.
"There is a consequence from your words," Steele said. "People are harmed or potentially harmed. That is what the system is trying to safeguard against, protecting his rights at the same time trying to protect the rest of us from him."
"That is really what it boils down to. That's the balancing act that the court finds itself in trying to strike this unique balance because we have a political actor who is distorting what is otherwise, in the past, has been when it comes to behavior and politicians," he explained.