Trump likens himself to a ‘Modern day Nelson Mandela’ in Truth Social rant

On Saturday, former US President Donald Trump embarked on yet another one of his Truth Social rants, addressing what a “great honour” it would be to spend time in prison over violating the gag order in his hush money trial. Outrightly, calling out Judge Juan Merchan and others in his social media tirade, he likened himself to a “Modern Day Nelson Mandela.” And this isn’t the first time when he’s compared 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???”
Berating the judge as a “partisan hack,” Trump lambasted him for issuing the gag order that sought to halt the ex-president’s off-handed rants targeting other officials associated with the case.
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In Trump’s three-part verbal online attack, he also took a swing at Judge Arthur Engoronfor, who’d ordered him to pay over $460 million in a civil fraud trial. Judge Merchan issued Trump an expanded version of the gag order earlier this week to put a stop to his critical remarks on social media.
He’d previously dragged the judge for a conflict of interest and his supposed reasons for taking over this case. Trump alleged Judge Merchan couldn’t keep off his biases since his daughter is a Democratic political consultant.
The former president’s hush money trial, one of his four criminal indictments, is slated to commence on April 15. It marks the first-ever criminal trial that puts a former US president at the centre.
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October 2023 brought up a previous instance when he compared himself to Nelson Mandela, portraying himself as a victim 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.
The civil rights icon was jailed for over 27 years for fighting against apartheid in South Africa.