This one is an opinion piece from Salon
Hitting Trump's pockets is only the first step
You won’t like Donald Trump when he gets angry – and right now he is very, very angry. If you were fined
the equivalent of more than 400 million dollars for business fraud and other financial crimes, as Trump was by a New York judge on Friday, you would be very angry too.
On his Truth Social disinformation platform, Trump has been raging, claiming that he is a victim of a “witch hunt” by anti-white “racists” who want to destroy him and by extension his MAGA people.
Trump will need much
more money from his followers to pay off this mountain of fines, penalties, and legal fees. “[He's] looking at financial ruin and losing the family empire his father built because he’s an inept businessman whose ego is bigger than his ability,"
Rick Wilson, co-founder of the pro-democracy group The Lincoln Project, told me via email, neatly summarize Trump's new reality. "Now he needs to find hundreds of millions of dollars just weeks before he starts his criminal trial where he faces real prison time. Trump’s totally exposed, and he knows it.”
To that point, on Friday, Trump sent out a fundraising email announcing that he will be “addressing the nation!” via a special “President Trump Emergency Broadcast”.
STAND WITH TRUMP
#1 They want to destroy me.
#2 They want me LOCKED AWAY.
#3 THEY WANT ME ERASED FROM EXISTENCE!
After today’s sham ruling by a Democrat judge, the radical left thinks they scored a victory.
They think they can celebrate, but after they see how STRONG you react today, they’ll regret EVER coming after us.
Right here, right now, we need the biggest response in HISTORY!
Before the day is over, I’m calling on ONE MILLION PRO-TRUMP Patriots to chip in and say, I STAND WITH PRESIDENT TRUMP!
Only your action at this moment will leave them reeling.
Only YOU could show them just how big of a mistake they just made.
Please, PLEASE stand with me today.
WE WILL MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!
Here, Trump, the master propagandist and political cult leader, conflates his being punished for breaking the law with an attack on his followers. As a dictator in waiting and de facto political crime boss whom his followers love precisely because he will be an instrument or tool for their revenge, rage, retribution, and acts of destruction against those they deem to be “the enemy," Trump is continuing to threaten anybody who believes in the rule of law and democracy.
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