This is the moment that Donald Trump threatens an ABC reporter after they asked about free speech. Speaking with ABC News Chief Washington Correspondent Jonathan Karl on Tuesday (16 September), the president appeared to become annoyed after the reporter asked him about Pam Bondi’s crackdown on “hate speech”. “A lot of your allies say hate speech is free speech,” Mr Karl said, to which Mr Trump responded: “She’d probably go after people like you because you treat me so unfairly. It’s hate. You have a lot of hate in your heart.” After slamming ABC, the president claimed that he “wants everything to be fair” and placed blame with the “radical left who have done tremendous damage to the country”.
He knows he doesn’t even need to try to be subtle anymore. Theoretically he can’t be reelected, so he doesn’t need public support for that, if he just seizes power he doesn’t need public support for that, and if he drops dead he definitely doesn’t need public support for that.
He is now entirely unfettered by the need for approval, and he was only slightly restrained by that before. Probably the best hope is that he pushes too far and one or more of his backers feel threatened enough to curtail him, which isn’t a great position to be in.