A Republican senator threatens “riots in the streets” if Trump is impeached

The statements by Senator Lindsey Graham, who by way of warning pointed out that there will be “riots in the streets” if Trump is impeached, have caused stupor in Washington at a time of great volatility and growing fear of political violence in the country.

The Republican senator from South Carolina, under pressure from the investigation into his alleged involvement in the Georgia plot to reverse the 2020 election results, carefully avoided linking his own legal troubles to Trump’s in his thinly veiled threat to the government.

The powerful southern senator, now trying to soften his remarks on Fox news, has come under fire from some members of his own party for his reckless comments.

Former Justice Department Assistant Attorney General Mary McCord called it “incredibly irresponsible” for a public official to make veiled threats of violence against federal authorities and the Justice Department for doing their job.

McCord noted that inciting violence in the current climate of irascibility sits on the same “game line” of former President Trump’s “wink and nod” of indirectly encouraging supporters of violence, as happened on January 6.

The president of the Council on Foreign Relations, Richard Haass, pointed out that, although it may not qualify as “incitement”, it is a call to violence, by a public official who is obliged to demand the rule of law.

Civil war “likely”

A new poll by YouGov and The Economist reveals that 43%, more than two-fifths, of Americans believe that civil war is likely in the next decade, a figure that among those who identify as “strong Republicans” rises to more From the half.

Although most experts believe that a large-scale armed conflict, such as the 1861-1865 civil war, remains unlikely, they see an anti-democratic threat in the present with increasing irregular political division and explicit incitement to violence.

Graham, who has appealed in court against a subpoena to testify before a Georgia grand jury for his alleged intimidation of state officials, has doubled down on his defense of Trump over the FBI raid at Mar-a-Lago where he was illegally holding classified government documents. .

In his veiled threat of “riots in the streets,” Graham complained about the “double standards” of the law in the Trump investigation, which he compared to that of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, -from whom she was exonerated-, for send official emails through a private server, not to seize top secret documents on State security for more than a year.