Opinion

Trump Wants to Jail His Opponents and Nobody Seems to Care

THE NEW ABNORMAL

“The fact that this conversation is not on the front of every paper, the lead-in for every cable news story, I just don’t understand.”

opinion
An illustration including a photo of former U.S. President Donald Trump
Photo Illustration by The Daily Beast / Getty

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Former President Donald Trump has talked repeatedly about jailing his political opponents in recent weeks—including members of the House Select Committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol building.

But from where The New Abnormal co-hosts Danielle Moodie and Andy Levy are sitting, nobody seems to be taking the threat seriously.

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“The fact that this conversation is not on the front of every paper, the lead-in for every cable news story, I just don’t understand,” Moodie said.

When Donald Trump threatened that he was going to throw immigrants in jail, “he did that,” she added. “When he said that he was going to bar Muslims from entering the country, he did that. He was going to pick the most anti-abortion judges, he did that. And now we lost Roe because of it. I’m just confused about what people think he’s kidding about.”

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Then, senior writer at Slate Magazine Mark Joseph Stern joins the program to discuss an upcoming abortion ballot referendum in Florida—and the “giant threat” lurking behind it.

“Ironically, the three women on the Florida Supreme Court dissented [against allowing the referendum to move forward], and they said that they would’ve thrown out the ballot initiative on the grounds that, basically, it violates the rights of fetuses and embryos,” Stern said. “While allowing this initiative to go to the voters, they’ve now made it pretty clear that if it fails, they will be on board with fetal personhood as well—and will stand ready to enshrine some kind of constitutional protections for fetuses and embryos.”

Plus! A conversation with Brian Beutler, the author of the Substack “Off Message,” on Democrats’ messaging issues as the 2024 race inches closer to the finish line.

Listen to this full episode of The New Abnormal on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon and Stitcher.

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