The Personality Cult of Donald Trump is Calling for Violence to Defend their Cult Leader

Update to Not A Political Party, But A Cult of Criminals, and Donald Trump And His Arizona Allies Are Trying To Incite A MAGA Riot At His Arraignment (Updated).

The New York Times reports, Trump Supporters’ Violent Rhetoric in His Defense Disturbs Experts (excerpt):

In social media posts and public remarks, close allies of Trump – including a member of Congress [AZ Rep. Andy Biggs] – have portrayed the indictment as an act of war, called for retribution and highlighted the fact that much of his base carries weapons [“Krazy Kari” Lake]. The allies have painted Trump as a victim of a weaponised Justice Department controlled by President Joe Biden, his potential opponent in the 2024 election.

The calls to action and threats have been amplified on right-wing media sites and have been met by supportive responses from social media users and cheers from crowds, who have become conditioned over several years by Trump and his allies to see any efforts to hold him accountable as assaults against him [and Trump tells them “against them”]. Experts on political violence warn that attacks against people or institutions become more likely when elected officials or prominent media figures are able to issue threats or calls for violence with impunity.

* * *

“Eye for an eye,” wrote Republican Representative Andy Biggs (Arizona), in a post on Twitter on Friday. His warning came shortly BEFORE the special counsel in the case, Jack Smith, spoke to the public for the first time since he took over the investigation of Trump’s retention of classified documents.

On Instagram, Trump’s eldest son’s fiancee, Kimberly Guilfoyle, posted a photo of the former president with the words, “Retribution Is Coming”, in all capital letters.

This is a call back reference to Trump’s threat to American democratic institutions at the CPAC (Fascist Fest) earlier this year:

In Georgia, at the Republican state convention, “Krazy Kari” Lake, who refused to concede the Arizona election for governor in 2022 and who is an ardent defender of Trump, emphasised that many of Trump’s supporters owned guns.

“I have a message tonight for Merrick Garland and Jack Smith and Joe Biden – and the guys back there in the fake news media, you should listen up as well, this one is for you,” Lake said. “If you want to get to President Trump, you are going to have go through me, and you are going to have to go through 75 million Americans just like me. And I’m going to tell you, most of us are card-carrying members of the NRA.”

The crowd cheered.

Lake added: “That’s not a threat [it is incitement], that’s a public service announcement.”

Political violence experts say that even if aggressive language by high-profile individuals does not directly end in physical harm, it creates a dangerous atmosphere in which the idea of violence becomes more accepted, especially if such rhetoric is left unchecked.

“So far, the politicians who have used this rhetoric to inspire people to violence have not been held accountable,” said Mary McCord, a former senior Justice Department official who has studied the ties between extremist rhetoric and violence. “Until that happens, there’s little deterrent to using this type of language.”

The language used by some right-wing media figures was more stark.

On Pete Santilli’s talk show, the conservative provocateur declared that if he were the commandant of the Marine Corps, he would order “every single Marine” to grab Biden, “throw him in freakin’ zip ties in the back of a freakin’ pick-up truck” and “get him out of the White House”.

One of his guests, Lance Migliaccio, said that if it were legal and he had access, he would “probably walk in and shoot” General Mark Milley, chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and someone Trump has identified as one of his enemies.

On Saturday, in his first public remarks since the latest indictment on seven charges related to the retention of classified documents and efforts to obstruct justice, Trump attacked those investigating him as engaged in “demented persecution.”

This is coded language designed for Trump’s White Christian Nationalist supporters who see themselves as “persecuted” for their cultish beliefs, just like Jesus Christ. These sick cultists have compared Trump to Jesus Christ. The Blasphemy of Comparing Trump to Jesus Christ.

The “demented” part is just Trump engaging in psychological projection. Whatever invective he uses to describe his perceived opponents is really just an admission about himself.

The FBI has been the target of much criticism from far-right Republican lawmakers and the former president’s supporters. [So much for the party of “law and order,” it is the party of lawlessness]. In the wake of the heated partisanship, FBI field offices are reporting all threats related to their personnel or facilities to the Washington headquarters, in an unusual step. A law enforcement officer familiar with the move said the FBI was trying to get a handle on the number of threats around the country directed at the agency.

Despite whatever security precautions are taken for Trump’s appearance on Tuesday, security experts said that the rhetoric and the threats from it were unlikely to subside and would probably become more pronounced as the case moves forward and the 2024 election nears.

“Rhetoric like this has consequences,” said Timothy Heaphy, the lead investigator for the select House committee that investigated the January 6 attack on the US Capitol and Trump’s efforts to remain in the White House after his presidency. “People who we interviewed for the January 6 investigation said they came to the Capitol because politicians and the president told them to be there. Politicians think that when they say things it’s just rhetoric, but people listen to it and take it seriously. In this climate politicians need to realise this and be more responsible.”

The Daily Kos adds, Conservative terrorists threaten armed resistance to protect their God King cult leader:

Donald Trump is a cult leader.

There is no other way to explain the rabid adherence of his disciples, willing to overlook his and his family’s corruption, his putrid morality, and his rank incompetence.

There is a racist, toxic, marginalized deplorable community, and Trump gave it voice. And in return, they’ve pledged their undying allegiance. Which means that they will never have a problem with anything he does, even if it’s stealing our nation’s top secrets. 

They don’t care if Trump carts off and shares our top military vulnerabilities with Kid Rock or anyone else. They don’t care if Trump leaks our military contingency plans against our enemies, potentially costing the lives of our troops. They don’t care if our nuclear secrets are spilled on some tacky Trump carpeting. And they certainly don’t care that he conspires with his staff and lawyers to lie to the national archives and the FBI so he doesn’t have to turn anything over.

Some are feigning outrage like “oh noes, we’re politicizing the Justice Department,” as if they haven’t been the same people leading “lock her up!” chants since 2016. Other are arguing that “let the voters decide” is how the rich and powerful should face justice, because why should they face the same laws and system as the plebes?

But this is the modern conservative movement, prone to violence and destruction, and their rhetoric is heating up. 

It is true—right-wing violence is, by far, the leading cause of deadly attacks since 9-11.

In its report, “Terrorism in America after 9-11: What is the Threat to the United States Today?,” the think tank New America found that far-right violence outpaced Jihadist attacks in the number of people killed. I would argue that “far right wing” and the incels are all of the same piece, emerging from the same dark web sewer pits, and listening to the same destructive voices. 

National Terrorism Advisory System Bulletin – Issued May 24, 2023 at 2:00pm ET:

The United States remains in a heightened threat environment. Lone offenders and small groups motivated by a range of ideological beliefs and personal grievances continue to pose a persistent and lethal threat to the Homeland. Both domestic violent extremists (DVEs) and those associated with foreign terrorist organizations continue to attempt to motivate supporters to conduct attacks in the Homeland, including through violent extremist messaging and online calls for violence. In the coming months, factors that could mobilize individuals to commit violence include their perceptions of the 2024 general election cycle and legislative or judicial decisions pertaining to sociopolitical issues. Likely targets of potential violence include US critical infrastructure, faith-based institutions, individuals or events associated with the LGBTQIA+ community, schools, racial and ethnic minorities, and government facilities and personnel, including law enforcement.

That mixture of violence worship with rapturous Trump support culminated in the Jan. 6 coup attempt—an event that we, as a country, still haven’t properly addressed. How could we? Its instigator is the leading Republican candidate! HIs cult remains alive and well.

In a sane world, Trump’s supporters would process this week’s indictments and accept that their hero is not just flawed, but fundamentally broken. The top lines of the indictment are bad, the details are even worse. Here was their hero stealing America’s secrets, then carelessly dumping them all over the White House front drive, an open stage, a bathroom, he didn’t give a shit.

And when the National Archives came to collect, and after them the FBI, Trump colluded with his lawyers and staff—on tape!—to hide the materials, to the point of carting off boxes of it on his private plane to his Bedminster, N.J. golf course. He also admitted—on tape!—that he knew the documents were not declassified. He just didn’t give a damn.

It’s truly shocking that anyone would defend this. The same crowd that had conniptions over Hillary Clinton’s emails—despite there never been any evidence of any crime—are now acting like it’s no big deal for a private citizen to steal our nation’s top secrets, store them behind a cheap but very secure Walmart shower curtain, and then lie to everyone about holding on to them. Those documents weren’t his. He knew it, and he actively fought to keep them by lying and hiding the materials. 

MAGA terrorists don’t care.

Lake: “If you want to get to Trump, you’re going to have to go through me, and 75 million Americans just like me. And most of us are card carrying members of the NRA. That’s not a threat, that’s a public service announcement.”pic.twitter.com/puyqXz3JF9

— Ron Filipkowski (@RonFilipkowski) June 10, 2023

“Krazy Kari” Lake is no fringe conservative figure. She was the Republican Party’s candidate for governor last year in Arizona. She got 1.27 million votes, and only lost the election by 17,000 to Democrat Katie Hobbs. And yet there she is threatening armed insurrection.

Louisiana Rep. Clay Higgins has gone all-out talking in Q-commando code to insurrectionists, like Donald Trump did at the debate when the told the Proud Boys to “stand back and stand by.”

President Trump said he has "been summoned to appear at the Federal Courthouse in Miami on Tuesday, at 3 PM."

This is a perimeter probe from the oppressors. Hold. rPOTUS has this.

Buckle up. 1/50K know your bridges. Rock steady calm. That is all.

— Rep. Clay Higgins (@RepClayHiggins) June 9, 2023

rPOTUS means “real President of the United States.” 1/50K is the ratio of a military map. “Know your bridges” means what it says—bridges are transportation chokepoints and would be valuable military targets. “Rock steady calm” is an old military tradition of calming jittery troops on the front line. For example, at the Battle of Bunker Hill, at the start of the Revolutionary War, a rebel officer calmed his troops as a mass of Red Coats of the British Army marched towards them: “Do not fire until you see the whites of their eyes!”

Having stoked bewilderment and outrage on Friday, Higgins followed up today:

Roger dodger. Over and out. pic.twitter.com/q66eWJIyjM

— Ron Filipkowski (@RonFilipkowski) June 10, 2023

Now he claims that by covering his threatening Friday tweet, he had “Manipulated the MSM to establish deep commo.” Okay champ. Go with that. “Copy this” means he expects his followers (whether real or in his head) to acknowledge his order to (for now) stand down. And in case they don’t want to listen, he claims that by acting, they’d be falling into some trap that “they” laid.  

Over at Patriot.win, the successors to the infamous subreddit r/TheDonald, people are having a rough go. Vice collated some of the standout hits.

“We need to start killing these traitorous fuckstains,” wrote one Trump supporter on The Donald, a rabidly pro-Trump message board that played a key role in planning the January 6 attack on the Capitol. Another user added: “It’s not gonna stop until bodies start stacking up. We are not civilly represented anymore and they’ll come for us next. Some of us, they already have.” […]

“Perhaps it’s time for that Civil War that the damn DemoKKKrats have been trying to start for years now,” a member of The Donald wrote. Another, referencing former President Barack Obama and former secretary of State Hillary Clinton, said: “FACT: OUR FOREFATHERS WOULD HAVE HUNG THESE TWO FOR TREASON…”

He means his Confederate white supremacist forefathers, the real KKK. Again, with the psychological projection. These idiots tell you who they are.

I went over this morning to check out the vibe, and they were responding to Trump’s Truth Social posting that said, in its all-caps glory, “AMERIA WENT TO SLEEP LAST NIGHT WITH TEARS IN ITS EYES. SOMEDAY SOON, HOWEVER, IT WILL BE ABLE TO WIPE AWAY THOSE TEARS AND SMILE, BIGGER THAN EVER BEFORE, FOR WE WILL HAVE DEFEATED THE RADICAL LEFT MARXISTS, FASCISTS, COMMUNISTS, LUNATICS, & DERANGED MANIACS, & CLEARED THE PATH TO PUT AMERICA FIRST & THEN, QUICKLY, MAKE AMERIA GREAT AGAIN!!!”

You want to see a cult in action?

Oh we’re so scared guys.

Ultimately, we just don’t deserve someone as selfless as Trump.

Searching around their site, it looks like many of the offending comments Vice plucked out for their story have since been deleted, with commenters hushing each other because “the FBI is listening” [and watching].

Let’s certainly hope so!

UPDATE:

The cult near Mar-a-Lago today. pic.twitter.com/FNrpe0tgLR

— Ron Filipkowski (@RonFilipkowski) June 11, 2023

The cult is out in Florida. pic.twitter.com/hQzdGhdGuE

— Ron Filipkowski (@RonFilipkowski) June 11, 2023

Here they are today. The few, the proud, the Mar-a-Lago caravan for Trump. pic.twitter.com/mUWkKEmoKu

— Ron Filipkowski (@RonFilipkowski) June 11, 2023