In an interview on MSNBC, Laurence Tribe, a professor emeritus at Harvard, warned that Donald Trump’s attacks on the U.S. judiciary are putting judges at risk and could lead to violence. Tribe, a longtime critic of Trump, spoke with host Ali Velshi about the increasing danger posed by the president’s rhetoric.
Tribe pointed to Trump’s comments about U.S. District Judge James Boasberg, who has been holding the Trump administration accountable for ignoring court orders related to the deportation of Venezuelan nationals. Tribe said that Trump’s criticism of Boasberg and others, including calls for their impeachment, is a sign of how the president’s behavior is threatening the safety of judges who challenge him.
“He’s trying to scare everybody by saying, ‘You better follow my orders, or we’ll never know what’s going to happen.’ And then, judges fear being shot—terrible things are happening,” Tribe explained.
Velshi agreed, noting that Trump had called Judge Boasberg a “radical left lunatic,” even though Boasberg had been appointed by both Republican President George W. Bush and Democratic President Barack Obama.
Tribe also expressed concern about Trump’s calls to impeach judges, warning that undermining the independence of the judiciary could turn the country into a dictatorship. “The idea that the judiciary is independent is one of the pillars of the rule of law,” Tribe said. “If we lose that, our system of government won’t survive.”
Tribe compared Trump’s actions to a dangerous “virus” spreading since the January 6th insurrection, which he believes has been allowed to grow unchecked by the Senate and the courts. “It’s a virus that attacks the very foundations of the rule of law,” he said. “It reached a fever pitch around the January 6 insurrection.”
He accused Congress and the Supreme Court of failing to take action against Trump after the insurrection, allowing him to continue his attacks on the system. “When the Senate acquitted Trump, and the Supreme Court didn’t enforce the law to disqualify him, it set the stage for more dangerous actions,” Tribe said.
Tribe warned that this “virus” is leading to a situation where Trump and his allies are breaking the system so quickly that even independent judges like Boasberg can’t keep up. He emphasized the need to fight against this growing threat before it’s too late.
You can watch the full interview below from MSNBC:
