By Joel Okwara
Some loyalists of convicted former U.S. President Donald Trump have called for riots, revolution and violent retribution.
The supporters were angered by Trump’s conviction on 34 felony counts by a New York jury on Thursday, May 30. The jury found the former president guilty on all 34 counts.
The New Diplomat recalls that 34 counts stemmed from 11 invoices, 12 vouchers and 11 checks that make up Trump’s monthly reimbursement payments to Michael Cohen who fronted the $130,000 payment to adult film star Stormy Daniels.
The former president pleaded not guilty to the charges in the case and denied the affair with Daniels. At the heart of this case is a payment made days before Trump was elected president in 2016.
His attorney at the time, Michael Cohen, paid $130,000 to adult film star Stormy Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, in exchange for her silence about an alleged affair. Trump has denied the allegation.
After his conviction, Trump blamed President Joe Biden’s administration for his ordeal. He also said the United States had gone to hell.
Trump is the first U.S. president to be convicted of a crime. Following his conviction, his supporters flooded pro-Trump websites with dozens of violent online posts.
According to Reuters, the violent comments were on three Trump-aligned websites: the former president’s own Truth Social platform, Patriots.Win and the Gateway Pundit.
Some called for attacks on jurors, the execution of the judge, Justice Juan Merchan, or outright civil war and armed insurrection.
“Someone in NY with nothing to lose needs to take care of Merchan,” wrote one commentator on Patriots.Win. “Hopefully he gets met with illegals with a machete,” the post said in reference to illegal immigrants.
On Gateway Pundit, one poster suggested shooting liberals after the verdict. “Time to start capping some leftys,” said the post. “This cannot be fixed by voting.”
There were similar threats of violence when Trump lost the 2020 election to Biden and falsely claimed it was rigged.
All three sites have policies against violent language, and some of the posts were later removed. Representatives of Patriots.Win and Gateway Pundit did not immediately return requests for comment. A Trump spokesperson also did not respond to an email seeking comment.
“1,000,000 men (armed) need to go to Washington and hang everyone. That’s the only solution,” said one poster on Patriots.win.
Another added: “Trump should already know he has an army willing to fight and die for him if he says the words… I’ll take up arms if he asks.”
