Trump threatens to lock up opponents ahead of crucial September 10 debate

Mosinee, Sept. 8: With just days to go before his first — and likely only — debate with Vice President Kamala Harris, former President Donald Trump posted a warning on his social media site threatening to jail those “engaged in unconscionable conduct” during this election, which he said would be under intense scrutiny.
“IF I WIN, those who CHEATED will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law, which will include long prison sentences, so that this perversion of justice cannot happen again,” Trump wrote, once again casting doubt on the integrity of the election, even though cheating is incredibly rare.
“Please be aware,” he continued, “that this legal exposure extends to lawyers, political operatives, donors, illegal voters, and corrupt election officials. Those involved in unscrupulous behavior will be tracked down, caught, and prosecuted at a level we have sadly never seen before in our country.”
Trump’s message represents his latest threat to use the presidency to exact retribution if he wins a second term. There is no evidence of the kind of fraud he continues to claim marred the 2020 election; in fact, dozens of courts, Republican state officials, and his own administration have said he rightfully lost.
Just a few days ago, Trump himself admitted in a podcast interview that he had indeed “narrowly lost.” While Trump’s campaign staff and allies have urged him to keep his focus on Harris and make the election a referendum on issues like inflation and border security, Trump has veered far off course in recent days.
On Friday, he gave a stunning statement to news cameras in which he detailed a series of previous allegations of sexual misconduct, several of which he described in graphic detail even as he denied the allegations of his accusers. Earlier, he had voluntarily appeared in court for a hearing on his appeal of a decision that found him liable for sexual assault, shifting the focus to his legal troubles in the final stages of the campaign.
Earlier Saturday, Trump aired his familiar grievances about everything from his criminal charges to Russian interference in the 2016 election while campaigning in one of the most Republican parts of the battleground, Wisconsin.
“The Harris-Biden Justice Department is trying to throw me in jail — they want me in jail — for the crime of exposing their corruption,” Trump claimed at an outdoor rally at the Central Wisconsin airport, where he spoke behind a wall of bulletproof glass because of new security protocols following his assassination attempt in July.
There is no evidence that President Joe Biden or Harris influenced the Justice Department or prosecutors’ decisions to charge the former president.
Trump has eschewed traditional debate preparation, opting instead to hold rallies and events, while Harris has been holed up in a historic hotel in downtown Pittsburgh since Thursday, working with his staff.
Harris has agreed to one debate for now, which will be hosted by ABC.
At the meeting, Trump outlined his plans to “drain the swamp” — a throwback to his winning campaign message from 2016, when he challenged the status quo as an outsider. Even after four years in the White House, Trump renewed his pledge to “crush the corrupt political class” if he wins again and to “meaningfully trim the fat out of our government for the first time in 60 years.” As part of that effort, he reiterated his plan, announced Thursday, to create a new “Government Efficiency Commission” led by Elon Musk that will be charged with conducting “a full financial and performance audit of the entire federal government” to root out waste.
After again smearing the congressional committee investigating the January 6, 2021, attack on the nation’s Capitol by his supporters following his 2020 election loss, Trump told the thousands in attendance that he would “swiftly review the cases of every political prisoner wrongly victimized by the Harris regime” and sign their pardons on his first day back in office.
Trump has repeatedly defended people imprisoned for crimes including violent attacks on law enforcement officers.
And he said he would “completely reform” Kamala’s corrupt Department of Injustice. “Instead of prosecuting Republicans, they will focus on taking on bloodthirsty cartels, transnational gangs and radical Islamic terrorists,” he said.
Harris campaign spokesperson Sarafina Chitika responded to his comments with a statement warning that if Trump is re-elected, he “will use his unchecked power to prosecute his enemies and pardon the insurrectionists who violently attacked our Capitol on January 6.” (AP)