‘Going to go through hell’: US President Donald Trump issues chilling new threat
Fear is spreading across the US as President Donald Trump begins a brutal new crackdown against those that oppose him and his mate.
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US President Donald Trump wants to deport anyone protesting against his number one fan’s business endeavours to an infamous El Salvador prison.
“I look forward to watching the sick terrorist thugs get 20 year jail sentences for what they are doing to Elon Musk and Tesla,” he wrote on the Truth Social platform (which he owns) at the weekend.
“Perhaps they could serve them in the prisons of El Salvador, which have become so recently famous for such lovely conditions!”
The world’s richest man and Special Government Employee, Elon Musk, is reeling from the public backlash to his mass firing of tens of thousands of US federal workers.
His company, Tesla, is experiencing a global boycott.
The electric cars the billionaire has hitched his personality to have now become a political symbol.
New Tesla sales are down 11 per cent in the US, 50 per cent in Europe and 70 per cent in Australia.
Now, Mr Musk hopes a new $A160 million donation to Mr Trump’s MAGA movement and a Tesla sales pitch from the President himself outside the White House last week will turn his fortunes around.
That’s on top of a $US400 million donation towards Mr Trump’s election campaign last year.
The 47th President of the United States appears determined to defend his friend’s business empire.
Mr Trump has blamed “radical left lunatics” for Tesla’s share price collapse through “illegally and collusively” boycotting the commercial product.
“You know, Elon, I don’t like what’s happening to you, and Tesla’s a great company,” Mr Trump said outside the White House.
He confirmed protests damaging Teslas would be classified as “domestic terrorism”.
“You do it to Tesla, and you do it to any company, we’re going to catch you, and you’re going to go through hell,” Mr Trump warned.
But the President has shown leniency and compassion towards violent protesters in the past.
He has pardoned thousands of his MAGA supporters who were convicted of smashing their way into the Capitol on January 6, 2021.
And he has fired and demoted the FBI agents and federal prosecutors who investigated their actions.
Tesla Takedown
In a speech to the Justice Department last week, Commander-in-Chief Trump called himself “the chief law enforcement officer in the country”.
That’s a title previously reserved for the Attorney-General.
But Trump appointee and loyalist Attorney-General Pam Bondi is also calling attacks on Tesla cars, car yards and infrastructure “domestic terrorism”.
She is considering federal charges against three people accused of throwing molotov cocktails at the company’s cars.
“Let this be a warning: if you join this wave of domestic terrorism against Tesla properties, the Department of Justice will put you behind bars,” Ms Bondi declared in a US Department of Justice press release.
US legal analysts say classifying protests as terrorism under the Patriot Act would give federal authorities sweeping search and surveillance powers. Mr Musk and Tesla executives would also be able to access those investigations.
The Patriot Act was a controversial emergency response to the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Centre in New York and the Pentagon in Washington DC by mostly Saudi Arabian citizens.
However, the majority of anti-Musk Tesla protests have been peaceful.
And most involve personal choices about where to put one’s money.
Griffith University researchers Erin O’Brien and Justine Coneybeer say this is likely just the start of an emerging global movement.
“When people want to protest a government policy, but have no political leverage … boycotting corporations or brands gives them a voice,” they write in The Conversation.
“This form of ‘political consumerism’, where individuals align their consumption choices with their values, is now one of the most common forms of political participation in western liberal democracies.”
As megacorporations become increasingly central to government policymaking, consumer abstinence is already proving to be a powerful lobbying tool.
“Trump has responded angrily to consumer boycotts, calling the actions against Tesla ‘illegal’, which they are not,” O’Brien and Coneybeer argue.
“Indeed, political leaders like Trump often argue that consumer action, rather than government regulation, should be relied on to ensure corporations conform to social expectations.”
Driving dissent
It is unclear if the US Department of Justice has the constitutional power to deport US citizens to foreign convict colonies.
But the idea of shipping prisoners to the Terrorist Confinement Centre in Tecoluca, El Salvador has support within the White House.
Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele expressed his eagerness to accept (in return for payment) illegal immigrants and US citizens as prisoners during a visit by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio in February.
Mr Rubio called the offer an “extraordinary gesture never before extended by any country”.
“His commitment to accept and incarcerate criminals from any country, including from violent gangs like MS-13 and Tren de Aragua, will make America safer,” he added.
President Trump has since taken Mr Bukele up on his offer.
A vague 18th-century law written for wartime conditions – and a $US6 million donation – resulted in hundreds of Venezuelan migrants being deported to El Salvador. This is despite a federal judge’s ruling to halt the expulsions.
The matter is currently before US constitutional courts.
And the White House is calling for the federal judge responsible to be impeached.
It’s just one example of the Trump administration’s willingness to pursue those who impede its agenda.
Mr Trump told the Justice Department last week that he expected them to jail any “scum” that oppose his MAGA movement.
“I will insist upon and demand full and complete accountability for the wrongs and abuses that have occurred,” he declared.
A veteran FBI agent who blew the whistle on orders to pursue an investigation into Hunter Biden and abandon another into Rudy Giuliani was arrested while attempting to board a flight out of the US. The counterintelligence officer, who is about to release a tell-all book, was released on $US10,000 bail.
Meanwhile, Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem and Attorney-General Pam Bondi have issued a memorandum demanding: “Lawyers and law firms that engage in actions that violate the laws of the United States or rules governing attorney conduct must be efficiently and effectively held accountable”.
They say they are concerned about “vexatious” and “frivolous” litigation attempts against President Trump’s executive orders.
Jamie Seidel is a freelance writer | @jamieseidel.bsky.social
Originally published as ‘Going to go through hell’: US President Donald Trump issues chilling new threat
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