On Tuesday, President Donald Trump issued a direct promise to use “heavy force” on protesters who dare show up to his military parade this weekend. He made no distinction between peaceful and violent protesters, an extraordinary threat of violence that he didn’t bother disguising. Trump has also repeatedly erupted in anger at California Governor Gavin Newsom, ripping him with vile slurs and telling dim-witted lies about his administration’s decision to deploy federal troops in the Golden State. All this comes as a new YouGov poll finds that only small minorities approve of Trump’s deployment of the National Guard and the Marines to Los Angeles, a striking rebuke given that he is staking so much on this battle. We talked to data analyst G. Elliott Morris, author of the Strength in Numbers Substack, who explains why threats of authoritarian violence are not necessarily good politics for Trump—and why the media keeps credulously pretending otherwise. Listen to this episode here. A transcript is here.
PODCAST
Trump’s Angry, Violent Outbursts Go Nuclear as Poll Delivers Bad News
As Trump’s eruptions grow more violent and a new poll finds disapproval of his use of troops in California, a data analyst explains why Trump shouldn’t assume authoritarian violence is good politics.
Allison Robbert/AFP/Getty Images
