One of the most frightening experiences of my life happened at the Denver zoo in the big cat enclosure. We were watching the bengal tigers. One of the tigers looked in my direction, and made eye contact with me. His eyes widend, his body tensed, and I could see him begin to crouch into the stalking position as if preparing to pounce, never for a second averting his gaze. Like the image at the head of this story, he took on a very serious and menacing appearance.
If you ever experience this, my bet is you will do the same thing I did, which was to break out in a cold sweat and leave the observation deck immediately. It didn’t matter that there was a ten foot mote and an inch thick wall of glass between me and that tiger. Once you’ve seen that menacing and serious gaze on the face of an apex predator that clearly means business, reason escapes you and instinct takes over. You really can’t help it, it is in a word, terrifying.
Donald Trump recently experienced a similar phenomenon. As the criminal arraignment took place in Miami, Jack Smith sat wordless, staring intently at Trump for the entire 40 minutes, never once breaking his gaze or reducing it’s intensity, even as Trump was led out of the chamber at the end. Trump, for his part, avoided making eye contact with Smith, deliberately averting his gaze. Clearly he was intimidated, so much so that he was unable to acknowledge Smith’s attention. So remarkable was this exchange of not so subtle body language that news outlets noticed and commented on it.
Here was another apex predator sizing up his quarry. Clearly this is not simply another routine prosecution to Smith. Trump has made it personal by making his thinly veiled stochastic calls to his base of deplorables, dog whistling them to attack Smith and even his family. This has not escaped Smith’s attention, and it’s clear he means business. He seems intent on to using all the powers of his office to take Trump down. Not just to convince him to plead out, Smith intends to take him all the way down. And if anyone can, it is Jack Smith. After years of successfully prosecuting mob bosses in New York and war criminals in the Hague, he has all the skills and experience necessary to take down a treasonous head of state. Trump often speaks of revenge and retribution, but perhaps for the first time in his life, Trump is destined to be the target of it.
The tiger is coming!