Trump and the Lyrics of the National Anthem

At one of his recent MAGA cult rallies, Trump urged his followers, many of whom own deadly weapons and have displayed a tendency toward violence, to take to the streets if he is indicted. Trump hopes that prosecutors will hold back from indicting him out of fear of unrest, violence, and revenge killings on a scale that would fracture our civil society. This is a form of demanding protection money or you’ll get a bullet through your head. A recent letter to the editor published in the New York Times argues that, to preserve the peace. prosecutors should accede to Trump’s demands.

If Trump isn’t prosecuted because of fear that if he is indicted, he will unleash his army of thuggish followers, the lyrics of our National Anthem will have to be changed to delete the phrase, “the land of the free and the home of the brave” in all four stanzas in which it appears.