It didn’t drag. As soon as the announcement of the extraordinary FBI search at Mar-a-Lago, Donald Trump’s residence in Florida, his white-hot supporters denounced a political vendetta and called for arms on social networks. “Tomorrow is war. Sleep tight,” podcaster Steven Crowder tweeted to his 2 million followers. “I already bought the ammunition,” claimed one user on a pro-Trump forum. “Civil war! Take up arms!” another shouted. “When do we start shooting?” added a third. For now, aside from a few dozen individuals demonstrating outside Mar-a-Lago, the Trumpists have stayed home.
This does not prevent the call for violence against the judge who signed the search warrant and Merrick Garland, the Minister of Justice. “Garland must be murdered. Simple as that,” wrote a supporter of the former president. “Let’s take out all the feds,” adds another. “The messages on these pro-Trump forums are as violent as anything I’ve seen, even before Jan. 6 and the Capitol storming. Maybe even more,” said Ben Collins, an NBC reporter who follows the networks. social trumpists.
The elected Republicans fly to his rescue
The most frightening thing is that instead of calming things down, elected Republicans have adopted an equally virulent rhetoric and are raising hysteria. “Using the power of the state to persecute political adversaries is something you see a lot in Third World dictatorships,” said Florida senator Marco Rubio. Other elected officials have compared the federal government to the “Gestapo”, to a “banana republic”… And threaten reprisals if they resume Congress in the fall. Kevin McCarthy, the House Republican leader, went so far as to publicly warn the Attorney General: “Keep all your paperwork and make room in your schedule,” suggesting that he was going to launch many investigations and have him appear.
We do not know much about the reasons for this search. It seems linked to the fact that Donald Trump would have taken with him documents classified as “secret-defense”, which is illegal. By law, letters, emails, and any written communication from the Oval Office must be kept in the National Archives. The Department of Justice has already aggressively prosecuted and punished individuals suspected of mishandling sensitive files, including General David Petraeus, former director of the CIA from 2011 to 2012. But instead of taking a cautious stance in the meantime Whether or not Trump broke the law, the Republicans preferred to come to his aid and attack head-on the FBI, the Department of Justice and the “tyrannical regime”. Even if they don’t all believe in his innocence, they cynically see it as a way to exploit the rage of their troops and mobilize them for the November elections.
Ironically, these same Republicans standing up against the raid are the same ones who in 2016 called on the FBI to investigate Hillary Clinton and chanted everywhere: “Put her in jail!”. While she was secretary of state, Hillary Clinton used a private address for professional emails, some of which contained sensitive information.
The unanimous defensive reaction in favor of Trump, including from his potential rivals, shows that he has more control over the party than ever before. Witness the results of the primaries in many states in recent months which have seen the victory of many candidates he supported.
Trump at the center of the game again
The Trump campaign took advantage of this “witch hunt”, as he calls it, to immediately send his supporters a series of emails and raise funds. Even if he complains that he was forced into his safe, the ex-president always delighted to occupy the front of the stage considers that this affair is a godsend. It allows him to present himself as a martyr persecuted by the democrats and thus to consolidate the unity behind him.
But that didn’t please the party establishment, which wanted to focus November’s election on inflation, the economy and the unpopularity of Joe Biden. Once again, it is Donald Trump, a highly controversial figure, who finds himself at the center of the debates. As for his possible opponents for the 2024 primaries, they must look gray. “It couldn’t be clearer. If today Trump wants to be a candidate, I don’t see what could prevent him from doing so,” summarizes in Politico magazine, John Thomas, a political strategist allied with Ron DeSantis, the governor of Florida and potential presidential candidate. “It’s going to be a coronation, not a primary.”
One big question remains: what will happen if the search uncovers boxes of sensitive documents? Donald Trump could be prosecuted and sentenced, but this is unlikely to prevent him from running again.