New York – User Bernard B. Kerik tweeted on March 18 at 12:13: “There comes a time when local, state and federal agents need to stand up and out if they are forcibly involved in political persecution.”
Kerik is not just anyone, but the former New York Police Commissioner: he led America’s most famous body from 2000 to 2001, when he ended up under indictment and convicted of tax evasion and false declarations. In 2020 he was pardoned by Donald Trump. Now he invites his former colleagues to rebel against the orders. His post, published on an account with almost 300,000 followers, recorded 1,238 retweets, 3,155 likes and 168 comments as of Tuesday evening.
The tycoon’s appeal
In the last few hours, he has launched other hate messages, but they are still online, as are all those that appear in the 75-page report produced by Advance Democracy Inc., a non-partisan and non-profit organization that conducts research in the public interest, and That Republic was able to consult. On the pages there are dozens of hate messages that have appeared on social media, forums and on TV, from men, women, young people, retirees, veterans, people with blue-checked accounts. They call for the hanging, the hunt for prosecutors, they ask to shoot the helicopters that will pick up Trump.
This is followed by the call for revolt launched at 7.26 in the morning on March 18 by the tycoon, with the post written on the social network Truth, in which he announced his arrest for Tuesday. Nothing happened on Tuesday. The indictment could come today, but it is not certain. Trump is accused by the New York district attorney’s office of having paid an adult film actress illegally in 2016, Stormy Daniels, who had threatened to reveal the old story and to do so a month before the presidential election. According to Advance Democracy Inc., violent messages on Twitter alone more than tripled in twenty-four hours, going from 14,900 on Friday, the day before Trump’s appeal, to 46,400 on Saturday. The accounts are still online. Scrolling through the messages, it is clear that many users have interpreted the tycoon’s appeal as an “order to march”, and to unleash the civil war.
The numbers
On March 17, the day before Trump’s posts, 14,910 posts with violent content associated with the word “Trump” were recorded on Twitter. The following day, after Trump’s appeal, violent posts rose to 46,330. On March 19, there were 44,420.
A few hours before the former police commissioner launched an appeal for officers to refuse orders, the user ShannonLancer had commented: “The Democrats are really trying to start civil war. Let’s get ready, people, it’s about to get ugly” . “Arresting Donald Trump – writes TheExecutioner – will be considered an act of domestic war against American patriots”. And @KelsterKell: “I lock myself in the house and pack myself up for the civil war.” According to TrekkerTokyo, the indictment is an “attempted legal assassination” and explains it thus: “Trump is arrested in New York, he ends up in Rikers (New York’s hell prison, ed) where he cannot be seen. We are in a state of civil war in America. Dialogue and reason are over. Arm yourselves”.
In right-wing forums
It’s even worse in the forums. In Patriots.win, which was once called TheDonald.win and played an important role in inciting and coordinating the events of January 6, 2021, the threat to “blow up” the Manhattan District Attorney’s office has appeared. “blow up the DA office”, read the message, then deleted. Another, called “IWannWatchFauciHang”, that is “I want to see Anthony Fauci hanged” (the former White House epidemiologist) had threatened the district attorneys: “Let’s kill those Communist fags”.
The Dr_gonzo account had added: “Let’s go get them, let’s get the party started. I’m tired of waiting.” “When it all ends – is the message of libtards_r_stoopid – I want to see every traitor hanging by a rope. Every traitor. They must all die”. “I will celebrate – confesses ‘trauncher’ – if someone will get rid of that criminal district attorney”. And sir-coffee adds: “Surround Mar-a-Lago, or any place where he (Trump, ndr) are located and prevent agents from entering.” In response, TheGunFairy suggests shooting down the helicopters that would be used to pick up Trump. “Medium-caliber rifles are surprisingly effective with low-flying aircraft. The 7.62, the caliber 223 and 308″. The message was then cancelled. “They are already at war with us – comments DenturesNancy – if we keep silent we will all be hanged in silence”. “It is time – writes ScottOw14440248 – to take the District Attorney and hang him”.
The attacks on Soros
On Truth Social, a platform founded by Trump and defined as the “Twitter clone”, the user Jmw0502 makes an observation: “All of you who say ‘protest peacefully’ know that it doesn’t work and it won’t solve anything. Violence is the “Only way. God have mercy on all the children who will grow up Communists in what was once a great country.” TrumpsPal however, shortly before, had targeted the liberal billionaire and philanthropist George Sorosinvoking the splatter solution that appeared in the film Fargo by the Coen brothers: “Don’t we have anyone available to go and get Soros? Let’s take him and put him in a meat grinder.” To tear it apart. “If Trump is arrested – says another, Randy Quaid – there will be a Spring of Awakening in this country that will make January 6 look like a children’s birthday party”.