MSNBC host Rachel Maddow says that President Donald Trump wants to make it impossible for anyone to criticize or oppose him, noting that he’s putting “heads on pikes” to make an example.
Appearing on PoliticsNation with Al Sharpton on Sunday (October 12), Maddow was asked for her thoughts on Trump’s “retribution tour,” which Sharpton pointed out has seen recent indictments of former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James.
“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, per Mediaite. “And so they’re putting heads on pikes and putting those pikes up at the edge of the… gates to the city to say, ‘It’s not possible to criticize, let alone oppose, this president.’”
Maddow said it’s all about instilling fear in people, making them afraid to criticize the President because of the potential repercussions.
“‘If you do [oppose], look what we’re going to do to you and your family and your career and your livelihood and your reputation,’” she continued. “And 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, who was recently the subject of one of Trump’s Truth Social rants, added that he believes the administration will back off when they realize “they’re really creating martyrs.”
“I think that they will end up making people like Tish James and others much more powerful and influential than they thought they were,” he stated.
Maddow added that it may also help unify people across the political spectrum, noting, “I think that even people who are soft supporters of Trump, who may like some things that he’s doing and not others, it’s so obvious that this is not the way the American rule of law is supposed to function.”
She concluded, “I think any adult who understands about how the American rule of law works knows that this is wrong. And I think that this will cost him soft support, even if his fanatical supporters would follow him into hell.”