Trump on prospect of election-related violence: 'If we don’t win, you know, it depends'
In an interview with Time Magazine, former President Donald Trump wouldn't dismiss the prospect of violence by his supporters in the 2024 presidential election.
“If we don’t win, you know, it depends,” Trump said when asked about the prospect of political violence. “It always depends on the fairness of the election.”
Related to this, Trump also gave the magazine a menacing statement about the purported "fascists" that he blames for his criminal prosecutions.
"I think the enemy from within, in many cases, is much more dangerous for our country than the outside enemies of China, Russia, and various others," he stated.
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After losing the 2020 election, Trump infamously refused to concede even after losing dozens of court cases challenging the results.
He then called on his supporters to come to Washington D.C. for what he promised would be a "wild" protest of the certification of the election, and then asked them to march toe the United States Capitol building, where they violently clashed with police officers, broke into the Capitol, and sent lawmakers fleeing for their lives.
Trump remained silent on the riot for three hours despite pleas from his own family members before eventually calling on the rioters to go home.
The Capitol riot was far from the only instance of Trump-inspired violence during his political career.
In 2018, a Trump supporter named Cesar Sayoc send multiple pipe bombs to many of Trump's critics including former President Barack Obama and former Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton.
In 2022, Trump supporter Ricky Shiffer fired a nail gun at an FBI field office and tried to infiltrate the building before he was fatally shot by law-enforcement officials.
Instead of condemning violent actions by his supporters during the January 6th riots, Trump in recent months has lauded them as "patriots" who are being held as "hostages" by the federal government despite the fact that many of them were convicted of assaulting police officers.