Rachel Maddow urges people to prepare for ‘the outbreak’ when Trump is ‘inevitably’ ‘sent to prison’

Looking at the latest developments in donald trumpcriminal trial underway in New York, Rachel Maddow used it to preview this year’s elections, offering viewers some optimism about things despite warnings that “now is not the time to check.”

Maddow argued that Trump has signaled that he is part of the global anti-democracy and pro-authoritarian movement, but that “should give us a little bit of a backbone” because it gives us a clear picture of where things are headed. Maddow also said, based on events in court, that Trump will “inevitably” end up in prison and that people need to prepare for an “outbreak” when that happens.

What motivated this line of questioning is that on Monday, the Judge Juan Merchan one again found Trump in contempt of court, this time for defaming jurors in an April 25 interview on the right-wing cable channel Real America’s Voice. This “raised the specter of fear for the safety of jurors and their loved ones,” Merchan said in part.

Explaining that Trump’s actions are “a direct attack on the rule of law,” Merchan fined him $1,000 (the pathetic maximum amount allowed under state law). But the judge also suggested that if Trump continues to violate court orders, he could order the disgraced former president’s arrest. “The last thing I want to do is put you in jail, but at the end of the day, I have a job to do,” Merchan said.

It’s unclear whether Merchan will actually make good on this threat. Observers have pointed repeatedly how Trump is now running away from behavior that anyone else would have been arrested for long ago. But Maddow told viewers that he believes it’s very likely to happen soon.

“There is a reason why the damage to the rule of law in our country is the damage to democracy in our country, which we have already started to live with. There’s a reason this coincides with the rise of authoritarianism around the world. And it’s because we, as a country, are not immune to the same pro-authoritarian and anti-democratic winds that are blowing through Europe and throughout the rest of the world right now,” said Maddow.

“Our democracy is deadly, just like every other democracy in history,” Maddow said. But, she added: “Be honest about the harm that has already been done to us. Be aware that we can see some of the same dynamics at work in other countries. Tuning in to the fact that the right, under Donald Trump, is openly admiring and imitating the way other countries have destroyed their democracies. Recognizing that they are voluntarily part of this project. That to me is energizing. I feel like this should at least put some steel in our spine.”

“Because it should tell us what role we should play. Right?” Maddow continued. “It should at least give us real, grounded, practical expectations about where all of this will go next and where our efforts are most needed to defend who we are. It should give us a clearer sense of what we’ll need defend and protect very soon, when the leader of the branch of this movement of our country, at some point very soon, will almost inevitably break that court order again and be, now we know that today, I will be sent to a prison cell.”

“He will inevitably, very soon, be sentenced to prison,” Maddow said. “Because we are on the verge of that happening. And the whole outbreak that’s going to happen is something we should expect. We need to be prepared as we are on the cusp of the next step and what has already been a very difficult time for us as a country. So, be careful, this is not the time to check.”

Watch the clip here now:

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