Harry Litman, the former Deputy Assistant Attorney General, believes that former President Donald Trump has “no legal strategy” to fight against allegations in Manhattan’s hush money investigation. That’s why, according to Litman, Trump is calling for his supporters to protest against a prospective arrest, while also bashing Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg.
Litman observed “while promoting his latest Talking Feds podcast episode in which he and his guests discussed Trump facing an indictment in New York,” Newsweek reported.
Trump Lashes Out
Last week, Trump told his supporters that he was going to be arrested on March 21 (a date that came and went without an arrest) in connection with Bragg’s ongoing investigation into the $130,000 hush money payment made to porn star Stormy Daniels before the 2016 election.
In response to the arrest, Trump suggested that his supporters protest (an odd move given that the Department of Justice is currently investigating Trump for allegedly encouraging his supporters to protest on January 6th).
“Trump was accused by Democrats of trying to incite his supporters to carry out violence as he faces becoming the first president in United States history to be arrested,” Newsweek reported. “Trump has since said on Truth Social there will be “death and destruction should he be charged as part of the Daniels hush money investigation, while calling Bragg a “degenerate psychopath that truly hates the USA!””
The Media Reacts
Litman wasn’t impressed with Trump’s outbursts.
“With indictments closing in,” Litman tweeted, “Trump has no real legal strategy. Instead, he’s trying to incite his vase to violent civil disobedience. It’s a volatile situation.”
Laura Coates, a senior legal analyst with CNN, was also concerned with Trump’s behavior, saying he was using “apocalyptic language.”
Further, Coates believed that Trump’s erroneous March 21st arrest date was a “publicity stunt” and a “litmus test.”
“One, a litmus test of the media – would they bite? Newsflash, they did. Second part, would those who support him in the sense that would they demonstrate that they still support him and believe him? Third litmus test has been congressional and those who are elected officials to figure out what they would say when the inevitable microphone went right back in front of their faces to say, ‘here’s what Trump had to say, now react to it.’”
Donald Trump and His Old Tactics
Right, none of that is really new.
Trump has been masterfully manipulating the media (which includes CNN senior legal analyst Laura Coates) for eight years. The result will be further entrenchment along party lines; the needle won’t move. The people who already love Trump will continue to love Trump, perhaps more so. The people who already hate Trump will continue to hate Trump. Very few people have not made up their minds, definitively, about Trump at this point. Opinions are solidified.
What will be curious to monitor, however, is not necessarily the media or general public reaction – because that’s going to be standard, predictable stuff – but the reactions of GOP challengers, who have spent the last decade cowering meekly, afraid to directly confront Trump, but who now have some ammunition to work with.
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Florida Governor Ron DeSantis spent a few days without commenting on Trump’s prospective arrest, but now DeSantis is testing the waters, carefully.
“I don’t know what goes into paying hush money to a porn star to secure silence over some type of alleged affair,” DeSantis said. “I just, I can’t speak to that.”
Harrison Kass is the Senior Editor at 19FortyFive. An attorney, pilot, guitarist, and minor pro hockey player, Harrison joined the US Air Force as a Pilot Trainee but was medically discharged. Harrison holds a BA from Lake Forest College, a JD from the University of Oregon, and an MA from New York University. Harrison listens to Dokken.
