MAGA insurrectionists are threatening violence and secession to an unprecedented degree as Republicans escalate their attacks on federal agents who lawfully executed a search warrant at Trump’s Mar-A-Lago residence on Monday evening. Trump and his MAGA allies continue their ongoing plot to avoid accountability and suppress the will of the people. FBI agents, backed by a warrant issued by a federal magistrate judge Trump appointed, sought classified documents Trump failed to return after leaving the White House – nobody is above the law. The American people already see the Republicans as the party of violence. Any Republican who does not condemn this is complicit in the violence it will inspire’
Washington Post: Simmering Threat Of Violence Comes To Fore With Search Of Trump Property. “For months, right-wing agitators with millions of followers have peddled the idea that a moment was coming soon when violence would become necessary — a patriotic duty — to save the republic. With the FBI search Monday of Donald Trump’s compound in Florida, that moment is now, according to enraged commentators’ all-caps, exclamation-pointed screeds urging supporters of the former president to take up arms. Within hours of the search at Mar-a-Lago, a chorus of Republican lawmakers, conservative talk-show hosts, anti-government provocateurs and pro-Trump conspiracy theorists began issuing explicit or thinly veiled calls for violence. […] With each iteration, analysts say, the networks have grown more sophisticated and more violent, as evidenced by the Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021. The FBI’s search at Mar-a-Lago for classified documents is now presented as a tipping point, an existential threat to the United States that true patriots must thwart.” [Washington Post, 8/10/22]
Newsweek: Russian State TV Suggests Potential U.S. Civil War As Result of Trump Raid. “The FBI search of Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida has sparked outrage among Kremlin propagandists on Russian state TV, who went as far as predicting that the raid might trigger a civil war in the U.S. […] Russian military expert Igor Korotchenko, a guest on Russian TV program 60 Minutes, called the FBI raid a ‘witch hunt,’ where Trump ‘as the most popular politician in the United States’ was ‘chosen as such a witch.’ ‘They won’t just be vilifying him, they will be strangling him. These raids, involving dozens of FBI officers and police dogs—this is worse than McCarthyism, my friends! This is a symbol of inordinate despotism,’ he said, as quoted by Davis. […] ‘This is fun for everyone, except for the Americans. They don’t know what awaits them next,’ he added. ‘Let’s just say that if the civil war starts over there, there will be only one big question for Russia: whom to support with weapons.’” [Newsweek, 8/10/22]
Fox News: FBI Agents, Garland And Wray See Increased Death Threats After Trump Mar-A-Lago Raid. “FBI agents, as well as U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland and FBI Director Chris Wray, are experiencing an uptick in death threats in the wake of the raid at former President Trump’s residence at Mar-a-Lago in Florida, according to sources speaking with Fox News. Authorities monitoring social media posts are spotting a significant increase in death threats aimed towards agents, Wray and Garland. These threats are reported to continue at a steady pace online.” [Fox News, 8/10/22]
Vice: Trump Supporters Are Calling for Civil War After FBI Search of Mar-a-Lago. “After news broke that the FBI searched former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home in Florida on Monday, his supporters openly called for an armed violent response, and ultimately, civil war. […] Within hours of the FBI search, however, the term ‘civil war’ was already trending on Twitter, and hundreds of Trump supporters had already gathered outside Mar-a-Lago. Some claimed on Telegram channels that they were there to protect the former president. The top comment on the main thread about the raid on Tuesday morning was: ‘Lock and load.’ In the same thread, another user wrote: ‘It certainly feels like they’re treating it as a hot civil war. When this is all said and done, the people responsible for these tyrannical actions need to be hanged.’ […] These same forums also hosted similarly violent rhetoric in the buildup to the Jan. 6 Capitol riot. Trump’s own comments confirming the FBI search used the former president’s typically inflammatory language to describe a lawful search of his home.” [Vice, 8/10/22]
ABC Arizona: Growing Calls For ‘Civil War’ In Far-Right Groups After FBI Search. “Some Republicans, loyal to President Trump, are outraged and calling for a ‘civil war.’ There is growing concern from extremism experts about the increasingly violent rhetoric. One member of the ‘Patriots of Arizona’ Telegram group wrote, ‘when are we going to do something about this?’ Another far-right Arizona Telegram group shared a poll asking members to vote ‘yes’ or ‘no’ to the question, ‘Will there be a 2nd civil war in America?’ On the far-right social media site, Gab, users commented on Republican Secretary of State nominee Mark Finchem’s post. One person wrote, ‘Merrick Garland needs to hang.’ Another commenter added, ‘As some [sic] who has seen war up close and personal, I say bring it.’ […] ‘[this rhetoric] is going to incite some type of violence or some type of activity,’ said Matt Browning, a retired Mesa police detective and expert on extremism.” [ABC15 Arizona, 8/10/22]
Slate: The Conspiracy Theory on the Far-Right Deep Web After the Trump FBI Raid. “The GOP’s meltdown after the FBI raided Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort was swift and fevered, with calls for investigations of the Justice Department and increasingly mainstream whispers of “civil war.” The right-wing corners of the internet mobilized in kind. The fertile far-right media ecosystem was more animated than it’s been in months, and the loose network of YouTube and podcast stars posted multiple shows filled with doomsday punditry within hours. Stephanie Foggett…[who] monitors the white supremacist and neo-Nazi groups on discord and Telegram channels…said she’s become especially alarmed by the short distance between rhetoric in extremist forums and Fox News.” [Slate, 8/10/22]
NBC: After Mar-A-Lago Search, Users On Pro-Trump Forums Agitate For ‘Civil War’ — Including A Jan. 6 Rioter. “Some users on pro-Trump internet forums told users to “lock and load,” agitated for civil war and urged protesters to head to Mar-a-Lago in the hours after news broke that the FBI searched former President Donald Trump’s Florida compound on Monday. One user posting about the ‘civil war’ shortly after the search was Tyler Welsh Slaeker, a Washington state man awaiting sentencing for storming the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, according to previous research and statements posted online. […] In the minutes after news of the search broke, users on pro-Trump forums like TheDonald, a Reddit-like website that was used to provide logistics before the Capitol riot, urged immediate violence, asking questions like ‘When does the shooting start?’ and calling upon Trump to summon militias. […] ‘Prior to the attack on the Capitol on January 6th, we saw unprecedented plans online to conduct real-world violence,’ Advance Democracy President Daniel J. Jones, a former Senate Intelligence Committee staff member, said in a statement.” [NBC, 8/10/22]
CNN: Violent Rhetoric Circulates On The Pro-Trump Internet Following FBI Search, Including From A Jan. 6 Rioter. “Users also encouraged others to post the address of the judge they believe signed off on the search warrant. ‘I see a rope around his neck,’ a comment under a picture of the judge read. […] After the January 6 attack, alternative social media platforms became more popular among Trump supporters after companies like Facebook and Twitter banned Trump and some other prominent figures who spread election conspiracy theories. But talk of violence isn’t exclusive to the more fringe platforms.” [CNN, 8/10/22]
Yahoo News: ‘CIVIL WAR’: Alarming Detail After Donald Trump’s Home Raided. “Online provocateurs and right-wing media personalities are calling for ‘Civil War’ in the United States after former president Donald Trump’s Florida home and resort were raided by the FBI. News of the raid yesterday triggered headlines and explosive news segments across the country – and in the hyper-partisan world of American politics, things are threatening to boil over. Popular pro-Trump Facebook groups and Reddit forums on social media have been awash with calls for violence and for residents to ‘lock and load’ over the perceived politicisation of the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s actions. […] With Republicans rallying around the 76-year-old – who is reportedly mulling another presidential run in 2024 – he is turning the raid into a fundraising opportunity by soliciting political donations from his supporters.” [Yahoo News, 8/10/22]
The Chronicle: Commentary: ‘We Are at War’ — So Much for the GOP General Election Pivot to the Middle. “‘We are at war,’ GOP candidate Joe Kent said Tuesday, the day he beat an incumbent member of Congress for a spot in the general election this fall. ‘The left isn’t the left of 10, 15 years ago,’ Kent vowed on the “War Room” podcast of former Donald Trump adviser Steve Bannon. ‘These guys don’t care about winning arguments anymore. … It’s a total, full-frontal assault, and they’re going after every one of us.’ […] Kent, an ‘America First’ Republican who defeated incumbent Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler in southwest Washington’s 3rd Congressional District, was fuming in the aftermath of the FBI executing a search warrant on Trump’s home in Florida. Bannon called it ‘jack-booted gestapo tactics,’ to which Kent agreed.‘We have to go after these people,’ Kent said.” [The Chronicle, 8/10/22]
