No ‘Double Atandard’ for Donald Trump’s Case, Even if His MAGA Supporters Want One
When Sen. Lindsey Graham warned that there would be “riots in the streets” if Donald Trump is prosecuted for his handling of classified documents, I wondered what the South Carolina Republican was up to.
Was this a prediction, suitable for a political pundit? Or was it a threat reminiscent of a mob boss?
Either way, it appeared to be approved by his party’s de facto big boss, former President Donald Trump, who immediately retweeted Graham’s sentiments on Trump’s financially challenged social media platform, Truth Social.
Graham twice made a “riots in the street” reference on Fox News’ “Sunday Night in America” as he charged a “double standard” in the FBI’s court-approved search of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home in Florida.
Repeating an often-heard Republican charge, Graham compared the Mar-a-Lago search to the FBI probes of Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server while she was secretary of state and President Joe Biden’s son Hunter, who is under investigation for tax liabilities. Republicans have called for that FBI case to be expanded into Biden’s overseas business dealings.
“And I’ll say this,” Graham added. “If there is a prosecution of Donald Trump for mishandling classified information after the Clinton debacle … there will be riots in the street.”
Oh? My antenna perked up at the mention of riots. As a cub reporter in the politically tense 1960s, when more than 110 riots erupted in Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, Detroit and other cities across the nation, I was warned sternly by my editors to avoid quoting predictions of riots. There would be more than enough to report if such mayhem actually happened, which it too often did. No need to encourage it.
Yet, with memories of the Jan. 6 Capitol attack by Trump’s “Stop the Steal” supporters, encouragement seemed no longer to be off the table for the former president.
The next morning, Trump was back to claiming falsely in upper- and lowercase that he would have “easily won” if not for “massive FRAUD & ELECTION INTERFERENCE at a level never seen before in our Country.”
Fact check: More than 60 court cases, including some tried by Trump-appointed judges, found otherwise.
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