Trump Has Suggested Violence Could Erupt if Court Cases Do Not Go His Way

Twice in recent days former President Donald J. Trump has openly suggested that there could be violence should the Supreme Court rule against him in his ballot eligibility dispute, or if the federal case against him for plotting to overturn the 2020 election proceeds, warning of “big, big trouble” and “bedlam in this country.”

Ominous language is not new for Mr. Trump, who has publicly called for jailing political opponents and suspending the Constitution, and has suggested that America’s top general should be executed.

But Mr. Trump’s latest statements carry added significance because both are tied to court cases that involve his role in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol — including his doing little to try to stop his supporters as they rampaged through the building.

Mr. Trump has rarely been pressed to explain his words. He has refused to debate his rivals in the Republican presidential primary and largely speaks with friendly interviewers. On Wednesday, while Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida and Nikki Haley, Mr. Trump’s former ambassador to the United Nations, face off in the final debate before the Iowa caucuses, he will participate in a town hall on Fox News.

Speaking on Friday at a rally in Iowa, Mr. Trump addressed the Supreme Court’s decision to hear an appeal of a Colorado court decision that ruled he could not appear on the state’s Republican primary ballot because he had engaged in insurrection. “I just hope we get fair treatment,” he said. “Because if we don’t, our country’s in big, big trouble. Does everybody understand what I’m saying? I think so.”

On Tuesday, after federal appeals court judges appeared skeptical of arguments that he was immune from charges of plotting to subvert the 2020 election, Mr. Trump asserted without evidence that the charges were a politically motivated ploy to keep him from returning to the White House.

If the case succeeds in undercutting his re-election chances, Mr. Trump warned: “It’ll be bedlam in the country. It’s a very bad thing. It’s a very bad precedent. As we said, it’s the opening of a Pandora’s box.”

The rhetoric from the former president comes as 2024 is already notable for a climate of intimidation and harassment of public officials, including those responsible for overseeing ballot access and voting.