Lock. Him. Up.
Pop quiz time: What do you call someone who rage tweets in all caps at all hours of day and night, posts violent images involving prominent people — including the sitting President of the United States — and verbally harasses innocent people?
A. Domestic terrorist
B. Threat to democracy
C. Mentally unwell
D. Donald Trump
E. All of the above
If your 77-year-old uncle displayed this sort of behavior, you would express concern over his mental well-being and consider having him committed to a facility.
If his threats against a sitting president were forwarded to law enforcement and on to the Secret Service he would likely charged under the law that makes it illegal to threaten a president.
In other words, you would have him locked up as a threat to himself and others. Hospital or jail. Take your pick.
But not if his name is Donald John Trump. Then you allow him to make a mockery of the legal system.
The twice-impeached, four-times indicted, found civilly liable for fraud, sexual assault and defamation Trump finds himself in this unique position again after repeatedly threatening judges and their families, this time the daughter of the judge who will preside over his criminal fraud trial that starts April 15.
Justice Juan Merchan issued an order last week prohibiting Trump from attacking witnesses, prosecutors, jurors and court staff, as well as their relatives. Merchan excluded himself and district attorney Alvin Bragg from that edict.
It was similar to orders issued by U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan and New York Judge Arthur Engoron. U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan kept Trump on a short leash during the trial where he was found liable for defaming writer E. Jean Carroll.
The latest order, which doesn’t include either Merchan or Bragg, is directed at stifling Trump’s rages against Merchan’s daughter, who he falsely accuses of bias against him on the basis of a fake social media account.
Merchan’s expanded order is direct:
“This pattern of attacking family members of presiding jurists and attorneys assigned to his cases serves no legitimate purpose. It merely injects fear in those assigned or called to participate in the proceedings, that not only they, but their family members as well, are ‘fair game’ for defendant’s vitriol.”
Now comes the hard part: actually enforcing it.
The legal system has bent over backwards to avoid actually holding Trump accountable for his threats and bullying. That includes special counsel Robert Mueller and Attorney General Merrick Garland. Engoron did impose a civil fine against Trump but allowed him to continue his courtroom antics.
There’s a term that defines what happens when you coddle a political figure like this: stochastic terrorism:
“Unlike incitement to terrorism, this is accomplished by using indirect, vague, or coded language that allows the instigator to plausibly disclaim responsibility for the resulting violence.”
You know, like re-posting an image of a sitting president gagged and hog-tied in the back of a pickup truck flying Trump flags.
The result of this continued behavior is obvious; an ongoing demeaning of and disrespect for the rule of law among his diehard deplorables. Combined of course with his nonstop complaints that he is actually the victim rather than the beneficiary of a two-tiered judicial system that affords him benefits not available to average Americans.
There’s been an increasingly plaintive cry that journalism needs to make the stakes of this election about the future of democracy. That’s an argument that hasn’t really caught on yet among voters — especially those who have tuned out Trump’s antics.
Perhaps that argument needs some fine tuning to focus on how some people can get away with anything if they are perceived to be rich and powerful.
Oh, and have you ever noticed there’s one judge who has escaped his verbal diarrhea?