Trump Chooses Violence

In the movie The Untouchables, there is a gruesome scene in which Robert DeNiro, playing the mob boss Al Capone, beats a man dead with a baseball bat. I couldn’t help but think of that scene when I saw Donald Trump’s post on Truth Social yesterday. It’s difficult to make sense of such imagery without outrage clouding analysis, let alone put it and Trump’s other threats into meaningful legal context, but it remains important that we try to do so. As I explain below, Trump’s actions are not just dangerous; his lawyers should be telling him in no uncertain terms that they could carry real legal consequences as justice finally catches up to him.