EDITORIAL - Trump should avoid irresponsible statements

In a social media post, former US president Donald Trump said there may be “death and destruction” if he is charged for allegedly paying hush money to a porn star, in what is becoming the most-anticipated possible indictment in the US so far this year.

"What kind of person can charge another person, in this case a former President of the United States, who got more votes than any sitting President in history, and leading candidate (by far!) for the Republican Party nomination, with a Crime, when it is known by all that NO Crime has been committed, & also known that potential death & destruction in such a false charge could be catastrophic for our Country?" Trump said in a post in his own Truth Social network.

Never mind the falsehoods he continues to spread, he has not given up on his Big Lie. Let’s focus on the “death and destruction” he predicts. To clarify, Trump is not calling for death and destruction if he is charged. His carefully-chosen words make sure of this. However, he insinuates that that might happen if he is, and not necessarily by his hand.

While Trump has the freedom to say what he wants it would be better for him to avoid such statements because his fan base and followers have the penchant to take his words literally or to misconstrue anything he says as a call to action.

We already saw this last January 6, 2021 when his call for people to march on the Capitol --perhaps even intended as a peaceful protest-- ended up becoming an attack on American democracy itself and one of the most shameful days in US history.

Nobody wants a repeat of such an ugly incident. And most especially not all over that country as Trump seems to predict.

Of course, Trump may just be being dramatic about all this. He may mean nothing about it at all. But if his more rabid followers --the ones who carry weapons, the ones who organize themselves into armed mobs, the ones who aren’t afraid to take the law into their own hands-- act on what they think is his real intent then the US can expect trouble again.