Donald Trump has warned that sending him to prison could be a “breaking point” for his fans, a statement that will heighten fears of political violence ahead of the US presidential election on November 5.
In an interview broadcast Sunday on Fox News, the former president and current Republican presidential candidate recognised the potential of jail time or home arrest following his historic criminal conviction in a hush money case.
“I’m ok with it,” Trump said, but added he was “not sure the public would stand for it.”
“I think it would be tough for the public to take. You know at a certain point there’s a breaking point,” he said.
The warning will ring true in a society already worried about the possibility of civil upheaval and political persecution in the run-up to the November election.
Trump will now run as a felon, and he has consistently refused to accept defeat if he loses to President Joe Biden.
On Thursday, a New York jury convicted Trump of all 34 felony charges for falsifying business documents late in the 2016 presidential campaign to conceal a sex scandal involving adult film star Stormy Daniels.
It was the first criminal conviction of a former president in US history, and the sentencing date has been set for July 11, days before the Republican National Convention, which will formally nominate Trump as the party’s presidential candidate.
“They’re turning Donald Trump into a martyr,” Trump’s son Eric told Fox News.
Although each charge carries a maximum four-year prison sentence, analysts say it is highly improbable that the judge will impose one.
Nonetheless, Trump joined fellow Republicans, including House Speaker Mike Johnson, in demanding that the US Supreme Court intervene in favour of the former president.
A “local judge, appointed by the Democrats, who is highly conflicted, will make a decision that will determine the future of our nation.” Trump said this on his Truth social media platform. “The United States Supreme Court MUST DECIDE!”
He has stated that his legal team will appeal the hush money conviction. Because it is a New York case, it must proceed through state appellate courts before reaching the US Supreme Court.
He faces three additional criminal cases, including one involving efforts to change the results of the 2020 presidential election, which he lost to Biden.
The 77-year-old’s followers stormed the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, after he delivered a heated speech, pushing the audience to “fight like hell.”
Democratic Congressman Adam Schiff, a member of the House of Representatives committee that investigated the Capitol incident, stated that the former US president’s strategy was evident.
“This is essentially his threat that, if he gets jail time, he’s going to encourage his supporters to rise up,” Schiff said on CNN’s “State of the Union” programme.
“And we saw the very deadly results of that on January 6.”
