Despite Trump's calls for protests, few efforts emerge, as supporters worry: 'It's a trap'
PROTEST, TAKE OUR NATION BACK!""WE MUST SAVE AMERICA! PROTEST, PROTEST, PROTEST!!!"
So ended two posts from former President Donald Trump, who has been posting incessantly — often in all caps — on his Truth Social page for the last few days. The messages have been flowing ever since Trump announced on Saturday that he believes he will be arrested in New York on Tuesday.
But while the former president calls on his supporters to gather in protest at his prosecution, that message seems to be falling on deaf — or at least unwilling — ears. Three days after Trump's desperate pleas, online support for public protests remains unfocused, disorganized and muted, according to experts who monitor far-right extremists online.
That reaction fits a pattern, experts say: Broadly, extremist movements are often whipsawed, with aggressive activity followed by pushback from law enforcement, resulting in withdrawal as remaining followers grow paranoid.
The Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the Capitol, which was preceded by a call to action at a Trump rally, has led to nearly 1,000 prosecutions. That offers even the most ardent supporter tangible evidence that pro-Trump fervor can lead to jail time — even as some conspiracy theorists continue to claim those Jan. 6 rioters were somehow framed.
And unlike Jan. 6, details on this latest rallying cry are scant. With no known time and place for a Trump arrest — and the possibility that he won't even be arrested, that his call to action is some kind of ruse — there remains no central target for his supporters this time around.
Will you protest? Many say no
In one pro-Trump channel on the encrypted messaging service Telegram devoted to the QAnon conspiracy, a moderator asked the channel's 212,000 subscribers whether they would protest if Trump is arrested Tuesday. Overwhelmingly, the comments in response — almost 2,000 of them — were in the negative.
"There is no point in playing into their hands. The rioters will be paid bad actors not Trump supporters. We know what is coming," wrote one user.
On Trump's social media site, Truth Social, British far-right provocateur Paul Joseph Watson polled his 218,000 followers with the question: "Is the potential protest against Trump being arrested a J6-style trap?"
Of the 1,580 responses, 85% voted "Yes."
And on Twitter, Ali Alexander, one of the main pushers of the "Stop The Steal" movement, which claimed the 2020 election was actually won by Trump, warned his more than 175,00 followers:
"If you protest in New York City, you will be in the single most hostile jurisdiction in the United States. There is no law and order. You have no liberty or rights there. You will be jailed or worse."
By Monday evening, protests had been announced for locations ranging from the parking lot of an In-n-Out burger restaurant in Orange County,
Orange County LOL California, to a location to be defined in New York City. But none of these events appeared to be attracting enough attention to draw large crowds, experts said.
After Trump made several fiery speeches about an "invasion" at the U.S.-Mexico border, a far-right extremist killed 23 people in an El Paso WalMart. After the FBI raided Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate and Trump railed online about the bureau, a man attacked the FBI's Cincinnati field office with a rifle and another man was arrested after an armed stand-off for threatening FBI agents on social media.
With the Charlottesville rally and Jan. 6 being obvious outliers, protests — even those held by far-right extremists — aren't usually where Americans are injured or killed by individual domestic terrorists. That usually happens in attacks driven by escalating political rhetoric, and that's what worries experts like Segal.
PROTEST, TAKE OUR NATION BACK!""WE MUST SAVE AMERICA! PROTEST, PROTEST, PROTEST!!!"
So ended two posts from former President Donald Trump, who has been posting incessantly — often in all caps — on his Truth Social page for the last few days. The messages have been flowing ever since Trump announced on Saturday that he believes he will be arrested in New York on Tuesday.
But while the former president calls on his supporters to gather in protest at his prosecution, that message seems to be falling on deaf — or at least unwilling — ears. Three days after Trump's desperate pleas, online support for public protests remains unfocused, disorganized and muted, according to experts who monitor far-right extremists online.
That reaction fits a pattern, experts say: Broadly, extremist movements are often whipsawed, with aggressive activity followed by pushback from law enforcement, resulting in withdrawal as remaining followers grow paranoid.
The Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the Capitol, which was preceded by a call to action at a Trump rally, has led to nearly 1,000 prosecutions. That offers even the most ardent supporter tangible evidence that pro-Trump fervor can lead to jail time — even as some conspiracy theorists continue to claim those Jan. 6 rioters were somehow framed.
And unlike Jan. 6, details on this latest rallying cry are scant. With no known time and place for a Trump arrest — and the possibility that he won't even be arrested, that his call to action is some kind of ruse — there remains no central target for his supporters this time around.
Will you protest? Many say no
In one pro-Trump channel on the encrypted messaging service Telegram devoted to the QAnon conspiracy, a moderator asked the channel's 212,000 subscribers whether they would protest if Trump is arrested Tuesday. Overwhelmingly, the comments in response — almost 2,000 of them — were in the negative.
"There is no point in playing into their hands. The rioters will be paid bad actors not Trump supporters. We know what is coming," wrote one user.
On Trump's social media site, Truth Social, British far-right provocateur Paul Joseph Watson polled his 218,000 followers with the question: "Is the potential protest against Trump being arrested a J6-style trap?"
Of the 1,580 responses, 85% voted "Yes."
And on Twitter, Ali Alexander, one of the main pushers of the "Stop The Steal" movement, which claimed the 2020 election was actually won by Trump, warned his more than 175,00 followers:
"If you protest in New York City, you will be in the single most hostile jurisdiction in the United States. There is no law and order. You have no liberty or rights there. You will be jailed or worse."
By Monday evening, protests had been announced for locations ranging from the parking lot of an In-n-Out burger restaurant in Orange County,
Orange County LOL California, to a location to be defined in New York City. But none of these events appeared to be attracting enough attention to draw large crowds, experts said.After Trump made several fiery speeches about an "invasion" at the U.S.-Mexico border, a far-right extremist killed 23 people in an El Paso WalMart. After the FBI raided Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate and Trump railed online about the bureau, a man attacked the FBI's Cincinnati field office with a rifle and another man was arrested after an armed stand-off for threatening FBI agents on social media.
With the Charlottesville rally and Jan. 6 being obvious outliers, protests — even those held by far-right extremists — aren't usually where Americans are injured or killed by individual domestic terrorists. That usually happens in attacks driven by escalating political rhetoric, and that's what worries experts like Segal.
