Opinion | The author's opinion does not necessarily reflect Sarah Palin's view.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez claimed during a podcast interview that she worried former President Donald Trump might throw her in jail if re-elected, given he had campaigned on promises to “lock up” Hillary Clinton.
While Trump never took action against Clinton as president, Ocasio-Cortez argued he could reasonably be expected to round up political opponents and journalists.
“I mean, it sounds nuts, but I wouldn’t be surprised if this guy threw me in jail. He’s out of his mind. I mean, he did his whole first campaign around ‘lock her up.’ This is his motto,” Ocasio-Cortez said.
This is what you call shock theater. Without evidence, @AOC alleged that Donald Trump would throw her in jail if he wins the election. https://t.co/qpuDuzdNhC
— Gianno Caldwell (@GiannoCaldwell) June 9, 2024
“I take him at his word when he says that he’s going to round up people. I take him at his word when he threatens journalists. I take him at his word. I feel like what we saw in his first presidency was an amuse-bouche to what his intentions are. He has learned from his mistakes of appointing professionals, and he will not make that mistake next time,” she said.
“Number one, they’re wrong. It has to stop, because otherwise, we’re not going to have a country,” Trump said. “Look, when this election is over, based on what they’ve done, I would have every right to go after them, and it’s easy, because it’s Joe Biden and you see all the criminality, all of the money that’s going into the family and him, all of this money from China, from Russia, from Ukraine.”
However, others pointed out that Trump recently said he did not plan to use the Justice Department against even President Biden, and that Ocasio-Cortez’s concerns about being jailed lacked evidence and seemed to imagine threats Trump had not actually made.
Her comments were characterized as “shock theater” that took Trump’s words beyond their meaning without substantiation.
“This is what you call shock theater. Without evidence, @AOC alleged that Donald Trump would throw her in jail if he wins the election,” reporter Gianno Caldwell wrote online.
“She takes Trump ‘at his word’ for threats he’s not made, but ones AOC has imagined: ‘I take him at his word when he says that he’s going to round up people. I take him at his word when he threatens journalists. I take him at his word,’ Ocasio-Cortez said,” Reason Magazine’s Brian Doherty wrote.
