MSNBC host Rachel Maddow expressed concern on Monday over the possibility of being interned in a “camp” should former President Donald Trump win a second term in the White House this November.
During an interview with Maddow in Monday’s Reliable Sources newsletter, CNN senior media reporter Oliver Darcy asked the MSNBC host about her concerns about being targeted during a second Trump administration.
“Trump and his allies are openly talking about weaponizing the government to seek revenge against critics in media and politics, with some of his extremist allies even talking about jailing their fellow Americans,” noted Darcy. “You’re one of his most notable critics on television. Are you worried that you could be a target?”
Maddow replied:
I’m worried about the country broadly if we put someone in power who is openly avowing that he plans to build camps to hold millions of people, and to “root out” what he’s described in subhuman terms as his “enemy from within.” Again, history is helpful here. He’s not joking when he says this stuff, and we’ve seen what happens when people take power proclaiming that kind of agenda.
I think there’s a little bit of head-in-the-sand complacency that Trump only intends to go after individual people he has already singled out. Do you really think he plans to stop at well-known liberals?
It also seems pretty clear that some people in politics might think they’ll be on the safe side — that they might even benefit from it — if they side with Trump. Ask Mike Pence about how that works out in the end.
When Trump invokes the Insurrection Act to deploy the U.S. military against civilians on his first day in office, do you think he then rescinds the order on day two?
She added, “For that matter, what convinces you that these massive camps he’s planning are only for migrants? So, yes, I’m worried about me — but only as much as I’m worried about all of us.”
Maddow – one of the most prominent anti-Trump voices on cable news – claimed in August that Trump could become “president for life” if he wins a second term in the White House.
“If every election is a new opportunity for him to go to prison, do you think he allows us to have new elections?” she questioned. “I mean, if those are the stakes, if winning the election is his plan to stay out of prison, what happens in that election if and when he does not win it?”
During an interview with television star Dr. Phil McGraw on Thursday, Trump remarked that “sometimes revenge can be justified” after McGraw suggested he wouldn’t “have time to get even” in a second term.
“Well revenge does take time, I will say that,” he told McGraw. “And sometimes revenge can be justified, Phil. I have to be honest. Sometimes it can.”
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