I was shocked when I didn’t see it mentioned on the news with a headline like: Trump Threatens Violent Coup. Didn’t members of the press read Donald Trump’s interview in Time magazine?
Time published an article about it, but of course they did—they are the ones that conducted the interview in which Trump made the statement.
In case you have no idea what I’m talking about, the interviewer asked candidate Trump if there would be violence after the 2024 election (referring to January 6th, 2021) if he loses.
His response was “It depends.”
Trump went on to say that the possibility of violence depends on whether or not the election is “fair.” We all know what that means. Earlier in the interview he said he’s “pretty sure we’re going to win.”
I don’t think it’s a stretch to interpret the words, “if the election is fair,” as “if we win.” So, he’s basically saying ‘if I lose the 2024 election, there will be violence.”
Notice Trump’s response was not: “No, of course there won’t be any violence!”
It gets even worse when you realize that we are screwed either way. If he loses, there will be violence. If he wins, there will be violence.
What do I mean by that?
Trump already admitted he would deploy the military to cuties like Detroit. He recently said he would deploy troops to college campuses if the campus protests against the Gaza genocide are still ongoing.
Fascism, anyone?
Republicans in Congress are already giving us a sample of Trump 2.0 by attempting to pass legislation that would allow Congress to obtain the names and visa status of the students who are protesting on campuses. For what?
They need that information to revoke the visas of foreign students in the U.S. and deport them back to their origin country.
This is how the federal government is treating our right to free speech and to peacefully assemble.
I’d love to say that when bad actors who aren’t part of a protest say something antisemitic or commit acts of violence, the organizer(s) of the protest are not responsible for their actions.
I’d love to say that, but for students in Texas that is NOT their reality.
The Supreme Court of Texas recently ruled that any violent acts, destruction of property, or other illegality that occurs during a protest is the sole responsibility of the organizer(s) of the event and they will go to jail,
If you organize a very peaceful protest and a Nazi comes along and throws a brick at a police officer from the periphery of your protest, you will go to jail. Do you honestly believe that Nazis, Proud Boys, or Oath Keepers in Texas aren’t going to take advantage of this loophole?
Next time there’s a candlelight vigil in memory of children killed in Gaza, one of those groups is going to come in and create trouble just so the kind soul(s) who organized the event are arrested.
It’s so ridiculous, I don’t see how it would hold up under scrutiny in court.
They know that the majority of BLM protests were peaceful and when they weren’t, it was largely due to outsiders hijacking the protest as a pretext to loot stores or destroy city property.
Everything right now is so chaotic and it’s not because there are encampments on college campuses. It’s the fault of police officers who raided peaceful protests and assaulted, arrested protesters.
It’s because bad actors seized on an opportunity to make antisemitic comments and intimidate Jewish students.
There were reports that police found a hatchet and a hammer thought to be used to break into a building on a college campus. A separate article reported that the man with the hatchet was a convicted felon who was not a student.
People had guns, tasers, flagpoles, sticks, and other weapons on January 6th. They physically assaulted police officers and tried to kill them. They stole a riot shield and broke into the CAPITOL OF THE UNITED STATES, destroying everything in their path, defecating on the floor, and Trump didn’t even send in the National Guard to protect members of Congress. Yet he wants to send the military into these protests? Please.
If we have learned anything from his presidency, it’s that he means what he says. If he says there will be violence if he loses in November, I really hope the agencies in charge of keeping us safe are paying attention and plan accordingly.
If violent protests or another attack on the Capitol occurs and no one is prepared for it, they would have to be purposefully ignoring the warning signs.
Please vote this November. Vote for anyone but Trump because if he wins, America will become an authoritarian country. All I can say right now is that I am in utter disbelief that our government is allowing it to happen. I never thought for a second that a President could refuse the peaceful transfer of power, incite a violent insurrection, attempt a coup using fake electors, and still be allowed anywhere near the White House.
