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The Bulwark’s managing editor, Sam Stein, joined MSNBC’s Morning Joe on Tuesday to claim that it is possible that the incoming Trump Administration will arrest people “simply because they disagree with” it. However, a closer look at Stein’s main example would suggest that he was simply being hysterical.

Stein began by raising the idea that Trump could arrest members of Congress, “I mean, this is a larger pattern of potential appointees who want to take their institutions and agencies and effectively weaponize them against their opponents. I was talking to Chris Murphy, the senator, last week about what he was preparing for, and he very soberly was like, ‘I’m preparing for them to try to arrest lawmakers.’ And, look, it may not happen. It may happen.

Pam Bondi is a serious and experienced state attorney general. It is hard to believe she is going to bring a frivolous case against a Trump critic that she would lose just to check some retribution box. Still, Stein tried to reach for an example outside of Congress, “I think the fact that they are considering the possibility certainly is frightening. In recent days the mayor of Denver, I believe, has said, ‘I’m not going to cooperate with mass deportation efforts,’ and the response from Trump officials has been, ‘Great, we’ll arrest you.’”

Stein continued, “And I think that’s really chilling, honestly, to see that people will cavalierly throw around the idea that elected officials, members of the fourth estate, could end up in the crosshairs and end up incarcerated simply because they disagree with the administration, but that is, Willie, essentially the through line for a lot of these picks, which is that they are there for vengeance and to carry out the political will of Donald Trump.”

That is fake news. Mayor Mike Johnston threatened to deploy the Denver Police Department to prevent federal officials from entering the city and said if the feds insist on deportation operations in Denver, they could expect a Tiananmen Square scenario. He has since backtracked, but he was promising to resist, not simply to refuse to cooperate. It is a difference incoming border czar Tom Homan acknowledged, “It is also a felony to impede a federal law enforcement officer. So, if you don’t want to help, that’s fine, he can get the hell out of the way.”

Here is a transcript for the November 26 show:

MSNBC Morning Joe

11/26/2024

6:21 AM ET

SAM STEIN: Yeah, and let me just add, I mean, this is a larger pattern of potential appointees who want to take their institutions and agencies and effectively weaponize them against their opponents. I was talking to Chris Murphy, the senator, last week about what he was preparing for, and he very soberly was like, “I’m preparing for them to try to arrest lawmakers.” And, look, it may not happen. It may happen. 

I think the fact that they are considering the possibility certainly is frightening. In recent days the mayor of Denver, I believe, has said, “I’m not going to cooperate with mass deportation efforts,” and the response from Trump officials has been, “great, we’ll arrest you.”

And I think that’s really chilling, honestly, to see that people will cavalierly throw around the idea that elected officials, members of the fourth estate, could end up in the crosshairs and end up incarcerated simply because they disagree with the administration, but that is, Willie, essentially the through line for a lot of these picks, which is that they are there for vengeance and to carry out the political will of Donald Trump.