The Right Promises War Over Trump's Conviction

Are these empty threats or a genuine national security concern?

by Justin Rosario

You may have noticed a great disturbance in the force last week. As if millions of voices suddenly cried out in rage and…have not stopped whining about Donald Trump’s 34 convictions for a single second.

It’s not like we didn’t all know this was coming. Republicans take bad news worse than the cast on a Real Housewives show. And this? The only news worse would be a Trump loss in November followed by his death of a stroke or heart attack while hiding in Russia. So, yeah, we’re going to have to live with this little temper tantrum for a while.

But will it just be a temper tantrum, or will they follow through on earlier promises of extreme violence and civil war?

What they are saying

After the verdict last week Trump immediately declared himself a martyr and political prisoner. It didn’t get any better from there. Reports Vox:

Just minutes after it was released, House Speaker Mike Johnson blamed Trump’s conviction on a Democratic conspiracy.

“Democrats cheered as they convicted the leader of the opposing party on ridiculous charges,” he said. “The weaponization of our justice system has been a hallmark of the Biden Administration, and the decision today is further evidence that Democrats will stop at nothing to silence dissent and crush their political opponents.”  

…

A range of leading Republicans — from House Majority Steve Scalise to Texas Gov. Greg Abbott to rising Senate stars Josh Hawley and J.D. Vance — have all said basically the same thing.

Elected Republicans and their hysterical denouncements have been downright restrained in comparison to the unhinged reaction to the terminally online right:

And still, it gets worse. From NBC:

“Dox the Jurors. Dox them now,” one user wrote after Trump’s conviction on a website formerly known as “The Donald,” which was popular among participants in the Capitol attack. (That post appears to have been quickly removed by moderators.)

“We need to identify each juror. Then make them miserable. Maybe even suicidal,” wrote another user on the same forum. “1,000,000 men (armed) need to go to Washington and hang everyone. That’s the only solution,” wrote another user. “This s--- is out of control.”

“I hope every juror is doxxed and they pay for what they have done,” another user wrote on Trump’s Truth Social platform Thursday. “May God strike them dead. We will on November 5th and they will pay!”

So… all is normal in the MAGAsphere.

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This is the inevitable outcome of a political movement that has fully embraced fascism. For a fascist, the law exists to oppress the people they hate while they themselves are above such mundane concerns. This is why the right now sees all forms of accountability as illegitimate. Elections are also illegitimate unless the right wins, because only Republicans can win elections. When the legal system works as it should, it is met with outbursts of rage, death threats and promises of mass murder.

This is the face of the modern Republican Party, fully exposed at last as nothing more than a mob of terrorists. They’ve enjoyed decades (centuries, really) of lawlessness and think the threat of violence will allow them to continue.

But will they actually do something?

Scenario A

There’s a very real chance that the right will attempt another violent coup. At the very least, they may launch a number of coordinated terror attacks in the run up to election day.

After the failed insurrection of January 6th and the mass round up of terrorists and traitors, America’s domestic terrorists scattered like roaches. Trying to avoid the gaze of a very active FBI manhunt.

But, as Vox explains, the terrorists are crawling back out of the muck in time for the election, partly because Trump is calling for them:

The re-emergence of the Proud Boys at Trump’s political rallies and events coincides with polls showing a majority of Americans fearing political violence will flare around November’s election. It also comes when Trump’s use of incendiary rhetoric is inspiring his supporters to target his opponents – including judges, prosecutors and political rivals – in a wave of threats that’s unprecedented in modern American politics.

Trump himself has not ruled out the possibility of political violence if he loses in November. “If we don’t win, you know, it depends,” he said when asked by Time magazine in April if he expected violence after the election. If he’s jailed or put under house arrest, “I’m not sure the public would stand for it,” he said in a Fox News interview that aired on Sunday. “At a certain point there’s a breaking point.”

Since 2021, when the FBI became laser-focused on the Proud Boys and other violent white nationalist militias, the group has reorganized itself into independent terrorist cells with no central leadership. They don’t call themselves terrorist cells, of course, but that’s exactly what they are. With no central leadership and limited communication between the terrorist cells, infiltration by law enforcement becomes much more difficult as does preventing planned terrorist activities.

These are the people desperately hoping to become Donald Trump’s Brownshirts and are more than capable of attacking polling stations on election day to interfere with voting in large minority communities. Because they believe in freedom and western ideals. Naturally.

In previous elections, right wing propaganda ignored reality and sold a fairytale where Republicans were winning and winning big. They did this despite every other sign clearly saying they were not. They did this in 2012 and we got to watch Karl Rove have a meltdown on live TV.

But during and after 2016, the stakes became considerably higher as Republicans started to promise violence at polling locations. I am fully convinced that right wing media overselling the strength of the GOP is what kept their terrorists from causing problems in 2018, 2020, and 2022. All of which were promised to be glorious red waves.

If Fox News, AM Hate Radio, and right wing websites do not guarantee victory this year, we could easily see the long-promised violence before and during election day. If they do oversell Republican odds of winning, we probably won’t. Fingers crossed for continued right wing arrogance and overconfidence. 

If Trump loses, we will be all but guaranteed to see that violence because 2024 is one of the last chances the GOP has to seize power and then it’s all over for them for a generation or two. Or more. 

Unless the natural cowardice of the right wins out. Again.

Scenario B

I have written about this before and I will most likely write about it again. I am not at all convinced the right has the chutzpah to commit to widespread violence. 

The racist right has raped and murdered and assaulted millions throughout the history of this nation. There’s an important caveat to this history of rampant violence, however, and it’s crucial: they did so secure in the knowledge there would rarely, if ever, be any consequences for their actions. 

That is explicitly what led to the attack on January 6th. These were mostly wealthy and deeply racist white people who assumed they would never face a day in court because either Trump would be president or their whiteness and wealth would protect them. They were wrong on all three counts and, my word, are they quite upset about it. 

With Biden in the White House and the Department of Justice not being weaponized, the chilling effect on the right has been pronounced. Trump repeatedly called for his cult to riot when he was arrested and no one showed. He held daily outrage press briefings during the trial and hardly anyone turned up to protest. Trump literally had to lie and claim huge crowds were being kept away from the courthouse (no one was being kept away).

Now, he’s demanding violence after his guilty verdict and over the possibility of being imprisoned. Will any occur? Maybe. Probably not. It’s more likely to happen around the election because that might at least accomplish something. Rioting over Trump’s legal woes will only piss the public off and give them something specific to vote against.

At best, another rabid lunatic will attack an FBI field office and get himself killed. If we’re really unlucky, one of Trump’s monsters will grab their guns and shoot up a soft target like a mall or a school. But a group of them or a large-scale attack? Probably not.

Just to be clear, the right has been screaming about the weaponization of the DoJ for years. What they actually mean is that it’s no longer being used to protect them. The louder they cry the more they are telling us what they plan to do once in power.

None of this means that Trump and the GOP’s fascist rhetoric is any less dangerous. While I don’t think there is an immediate danger of widespread civil unrest over Trump’s convictions (as of this writing, it’s been five days and…no war. Again, they are intentionally creating a permission structure for violence. This is the point. Part of it is to terrorize the country with the threat of violence, but most of it is to acclimate the GOP base to the idea of using violence to get what they want. If they can overcome their fear of consequences. 

That’s a mighty big “if”, though. 

Our most important job is to make sure every single Republican in this country knows there will be consequences for their actions. For everyone who takes up arms against the United States or tries to steal an election, they will face justice. Because no one is above the law, not even the Republican Party.

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