Rachel Maddow believes that the recent indictments of Letitia James and James Comey are aiming to make Donald Trump’s enemies terrified to oppose him.
While talking to Al Sharpton on Sunday, Maddow was asked for her opinion on the two indictments of Comey and James, especially given the president has warned that more may follow. She said the playbook was simple: make it feel “illegal or terrifying to oppose him.”
“I think that the most obvious answer is probably the real one, which is that they want to make it either illegal or terrifying to oppose him,” Maddow said. “And so they’re putting heads on pikes and putting those pikes up at the gates to the city to say it’s not possible to criticize, let alone oppose, this president. If you do, look what we’re going to do to you and your family and your career and your livelihood and your reputation.”
She added: “I think that’s all it is. And I think that they don’t have anybody holding them back. And so they’re going to do it as long as they can and as much as they can.”
Sharpton agreed, adding that the administration will continue to do this until it “backfires” and they realize that they are creating “martyrs” in those being indicted.
James was indicted last week on mortgage fraud charges after insistence from Trump. This came just two weeks after Comey was indicted and charged for allegedly lying to Congress. The president has vowed to take on his political enemies, and Comey and James were both prominent adversaries to Trump since his first election in 2016.
“This is nothing more than a continuation of the president’s desperate weaponization of our justice system,” James said following the indictment. “He is forcing federal law enforcement agencies to do his bidding, all because I did my job as the New York State Attorney General. These charges are baseless, and the president’s own public statements make clear that his only goal is political retribution at any cost.”
Watch the full conversation between Maddow and Sharpton above.
