by The jobs are ominous.
“Choose a side, or you’ll be next,” conservative talk show host Dan Bongino wrote on the Social Truth media platform following former president Donald Trump’s 34 felony convictions.
The answers were even greater.
“Dan, seriously now,” one user wrote in response to Bongino. “I see no way out of this mess without bloodshed. When you can rig an election, then arm the government and the courts against a former President, what other choice is there? I am almost 70 years old and I would rather die than live in tyranny.”
That’s a popular version of how people on the US right responded to Trump’s judgment, drawing on a “mirror world” in which Trump is seen as the selfless martyr to the powerful forces of the state and Joe Biden is the dangerous autocrat who has the using a justice system. own personal drama and a threat to American democracy.
Calls for revenge, retribution and violence flooded the internet as soon as Trump’s guilty verdict came down, all relying on the idea that the trial was a sham designed to interfere with the 2024 election. Some posted online expressly saying that it was time for hangings, executions and civil wars.
In this case, Trump was accused of falsifying documents related to a sordid payment made to an adult film actor to keep an alleged affair out of the spotlight during the 2016 election — a type of election interference from a man whose platform is largely made up of recently. blaming others for election interference. His followers followed the judgment, those who have been chanting for years to lock up Trump’s political opponents, like Hillary Clinton.
On the left, the mood was celebratory, a brief interlude of joy that Trump might finally be held accountable for his actions. But there was an undercurrent of concern among some liberals, who saw the way the felonies could bolster support for the former president.
On the right, in the alternate reality created by and for Trump and his supporters, the convictions are a sign of lies and dogma – evidence that a corrupt faction runs Joe Biden’s government, but that Trump loyalists can drive out. like themselves.
Trump’s allies in Congress want to use the federal government’s coffers to send a message to Biden that the verdict crosses a line, calling the jury’s decision “turning our judicial system into a political quagmire.” Some Senate Republicans have vowed not to cooperate with Democratic priorities or nominees — effectively politicizing the government in return for what they claim is politicizing the courts.
They responded to a claim that Trump himself repeatedly drove home to his followers: that his political opponent, namely Biden, is a threat to democracy, a rebranding of how Biden and the Democrats often treat Trump. For his most ardent followers, the stakes in the 2024 election are real, the idea that he could lose cause for intense rhetoric and threats.
And, for some, the convictions provide another reason to take matters into their own hands at a time when support for using violence to achieve political goals is growing. Indictments against Trump have fueled this support, surveys have shown.
Some rightwing media and commentators, like Bongino and the Gateway Pundit, displayed upside down flags on social media, a sign of distress and a symbol among Trump supporters who recently made the news because someone flew at the home of the supreme justice of the United States Samuel Alito after the. get out
The terms “banana republic” and “kangaroo court” were thrown around, as were memes comparing Biden to Nazi or fascist leaders. Telegram channels lit up with posts about how the end of America was sealed – unless Trump wins again in November.
“If we jail Trump, get rid of Maga, abolish the electoral college, ban voter ID, censor free speech, we will save democracy,” says one meme in the QAnon channel on Telegram that shows Biden in Nazi uniform with Hitler. chrome.
Right-wing heavyweight Tucker Carlson claimed apocalyptic: “Import the third world, be the third world. That’s what we just saw. This will not stop Trump. He will win the election if he is not killed first. But it destroys the fairest justice system in the world. Anyone who defends this judgment is putting you and your family at risk.”
Supporters of the former president also opened their wallets, sending a “record-breaking” $34.8m in small-dollar donations to the Trump campaign on Thursday, the Trump campaign said.
The massive draw came after Trump declared himself a “political prisoner” (he’s not in jail) and declared justice “dead” in the United States while disrupting fundraising.
“His sick and twisted goal is simple: Make the justice system against me so much, that proud supporters like YOU spit when you hear my name,” the Trump campaign wrote. “BUT THAT NEVER HAPPENS! Now it’s time for me & mine to transform him back into their corrupt faces!”
The verdict, Trump wrote on Truth Social, would come on November 5. The posts that called November 5 as the new “freedom day” and compared 2024 to 1776 – but a revolution not against Britain, but among Americans regarding the control of the country – spread widely.
Misinformation and rumors also spread, and those rumors could lead to further action by Republicans to avenge Trump.
In one viral claim, people say it’s unclear what crimes Trump even committed (the charges for falsifying documents are listed in detail in the indictment, and have been broken down piece by piece by the media). In another post, jobs claim the judge gave incorrect instructions to the jury before deliberations, and an Associated Press fact-check was deemed false.
Suggestions spread that the conviction was an “op” or “psyop” – meaning planned manipulation, a common far-right refrain whenever something big happens.
Talk quickly turned to what Maga should do to stand up for Trump, and how fans of the verdict, and Democrats in general, would regret seeking accountability in the courts.
“This is the biggest political backlash in US history,” conservative account Catturd posted on Truth Social. “I feel a huge seismic shift in the air.”
Kash Patel, a former Trump administration staffer and ally, suggested one way forward: Congress should declassify Merchan’s daughter’s bank records, he said. The daughter was a frequent target during the trial – she worked as a Democratic consultant and has raised money for Democratic politicians. The senator from Ohio, JD Vance, called for a criminal investigation of Merchan, and that his daughter, Vance said could be a “clear beneficiary of Merchan’s biased rulings”.
Patel also said prosecutor Alvin Bragg should be commended for any documents related to meetings with the Biden administration. “In case you need a jurisdictional hook – Bragg’s office receives federal funds from the DOJ to ‘administer justice’ – GO IN,” he wrote.
Megyn Kelly said that Bragg should be banned, without giving a reason as to what would justify it.
Some Trump allies sought to calm the vitriol, saying they knew the verdict would come down the way it did because the process was rigged, and people needed to be focused on winning. in November.
Steve Bannon, who is serving time in prison for criminal contempt himself, said immediately after the verdict was released that he “didn’t mean to damage President Trump at all.”
“It’s time for you to gather yourself and say, yes, we have seen what happened. We saw how they run the tables in this crooked process. But you have to say, hey, I’m more determined than ever to put things right.”
