The Bulwark’s managing editor, Sam Stein, joined MSNBC’s Morning Joe on Tuesday to claim that it is possible that the incoming Trump Administration will arrest people “simply because they disagree with” it. However, a closer look at Stein's main example would suggest that he was simply being hysterical.
Stein began by raising the idea that Trump could arrest members of Congress, “I mean, this is a larger pattern of potential appointees who want to take their institutions and agencies and effectively weaponize them against their opponents. I was talking to Chris Murphy, the senator, last week about what he was preparing for, and he very soberly was like, ‘I'm preparing for them to try to arrest lawmakers.’ And, look, it may not happen. It may happen.
Pam Bondi is a serious and experienced state attorney general. It is hard to believe she is going to bring a frivolous case against a Trump critic that she would lose just to check some retribution box. Still, Stein tried to reach for an example outside of Congress, “I think the fact that they are considering the possibility certainly is frightening. In recent days the mayor of Denver, I believe, has said, ‘I'm not going to cooperate with mass deportation efforts,’ and the response from Trump officials has been, ‘Great, we'll arrest you.’”
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