https://www.yahoo.com/news/trump-ramps-violent-rhetoric-022650619.html
Trump ramps up violent rhetoric
Former President Donald Trump is lashing out at political and legal foes in increasingly violent terms as his campaign to return to office accelerates.
In the past week, Trump suggested in an online post that Gen. Mark Milley, the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, deserved to face the death penalty. In California, he called for shoplifters to be shot on sight. Criticizing former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., during the same speech, he mockingly asked how Pelosi’s husband was doing, referring to the violent attack on Paul Pelosi last year during a home invasion by an assailant authorities say was steeped in Trump’s election conspiracy theories.
Trump also made a series of incendiary statements about New York Attorney General Letitia James ahead of and during the start Monday of his New York civil trial on charges of business fraud. Hours before he headed into court Monday morning, Trump called James “corrupt and racist,” “rogue” and “out of control.” And he posted criticism of the judge in the case, too, saying he should no longer sit on the bench.
They are the type of statements that could get another defendant held in contempt of court — and might see embarrassed former supporters back away from another presidential candidate. But many of Trump’s followers latch onto and celebrate his rhetoric — and even act on it, as the Jan. 6 Capitol riot and other violent incidents in recent years have shown.
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