Former US President Donald Trump launched into another one of his Truth Social diatribes on Saturday, expressing his view that it would be a “great honor” to be imprisoned for breaching the gag order in his hush money trial. In his social media rant, he directly criticized Judge Juan Merchan and others, drawing a comparison between himself and a “Modern Day Nelson Mandela.” This is not the first instance where he has likened himself to the anti-apartheid activist, Nobel Peace Prize laureate, and former President of South Africa.
“Now we have Merchan, who is not allowing me to talk, thereby violating the Law and the constitution, all at once,” begins Trump in his April 6 Truth Social post. He then questions the American judge’s credibility, exclaiming: “How was he even chosen for this case???”
Criticizing the judge as a “partisan hack,” Trump strongly condemned him for imposing the gag order intended to stop the former president’s spontaneous criticisms directed at other officials involved in the case.
In a three-part verbal assault online, Trump also targeted Judge Arthur Engoron, who had ordered him to pay over $460 million in a civil fraud trial. Judge Merchan recently issued Trump an expanded version of the gag order to halt his critical comments on social media.
Previously, Trump had accused the judge of having a conflict of interest and questioned his motives for handling the case, alleging that Judge Merchan couldn’t remain impartial due to his daughter’s role as a Democratic political consultant. The former president’s hush money trial, one of his four criminal indictments, is scheduled to begin on April 15, marking the first criminal trial involving a former US president.
On October 2023, there was a recurrence of a past incident where he likened himself to Nelson Mandela, presenting himself as a target of political persecution. “I don’t mind being Nelson Mandela, because I’m doing it for a reason,” he spoke at an old Derry, New Hampshire, rally.
