All gag orders are not equal. Given this one was due to what amounts to a threat against his staff, I find it unlikely most judges in other circumstances would have let this happen with such flagrant disregard for the order without jail time.
This is the bit I don’t get, Trump doxxing court staff and encouraging his followers to harass them is surely way beyond contempt of court. Is that not an entirely new crime by itself?
You’d think so, but like we’re seeing with the Jim Jordan thing, people are quite honestly (and reasonably) scared of escalating violence and harassment from… punishing the incitement of violence and harassment. The problem comes from the fact that you can’t stop the escalation that will occur simply by punishing the inciter–you make it worse. That’s why mob violence and stochastic terrorism are so scary.
This is the bit I don’t get, Trump doxxing court staff and encouraging his followers to harass them is surely way beyond contempt of court. Is that not an entirely new crime by itself?
You’d think so, but like we’re seeing with the Jim Jordan thing, people are quite honestly (and reasonably) scared of escalating violence and harassment from… punishing the incitement of violence and harassment. The problem comes from the fact that you can’t stop the escalation that will occur simply by punishing the inciter–you make it worse. That’s why mob violence and stochastic terrorism are so scary.