Federal charges against Trump? Many Americans still rally to his side!
“If you want to get to President Trump, you are going to have to go through me, and you are going to have to go through 75 million Americans just like me,” said Kari Lake, an ardent defender of Trump. “And I’m going to tell you, most of us are card-carrying members of the NRA.”
The violent rhetoric of the former Republican candidate for governor of Arizona following the federal indictment of former President Donald Trump clearly indicates a dangerous political atmosphere in the coming weeks in the United States .
The political universe is now precariously poised with ‘gun’ and ‘artificial intelligence” likely to make a serious impact on the future of the nation and its citizens.
Trump has survived two impeachments and one indictment earlier on April 4 and that seems to have emboldened his allies and supporters to believe that the federal charges would hardly dent his standing with his base or damage his status as a frontrunner in the GOP primary.
It’s surprising how Trump’s 2024 GOP opponents have rushed to his defence. Ron DeSantis, Governor of Florida, has come out in support of the former President saying what he called the “weaponization of federal law enforcement.” Former vice president Mike Pence had clammed up after reporters had asked about the ‘indictment’ in New Hampshire.
“Trump’s base of support believes that the DOJ (Department of Justice) is corrupt so they will stick with Trump regardless of the specific charges,” veteran New Hampshire-based Republican strategist Mike Dennehy had said shortly after the indictment was unsealed on Friday.
Vivek Ramaswamy, the biotech executive who has polled in the single digits in the GOP primary, and who is unlikely to be the next president, has defended Trump. “It would be much easier for me to win this election if Trump weren’t in the race, but I stand for principles over politics. I commit to pardon Trump promptly on January 20, 2025 and to restore the rule of law in our country,” Vivek said.
Trump meanwhile has alerted the public on social media attacking the Department of Justice calling the indictment “THE GREATEST WITCH HUNT OFF ALL TIME.”
His eldest son’s fiancée, Kimberly Guilfoyle, has posted a photo of the former President on Instagram with the words, “Retribution Is Coming,” in all capital letters.
Political violence experts have warned that Trump supporters might go into the offensive and attack opponents and institutions with fury especially when elected officials like Dennehy and DeSantis had made those remarks. They have also added even if aggressive language by high-profile individuals does not directly end in physical harm, it creates an atmosphere in which the idea of violence becomes more accepted, especially if such rhetoric is left unchecked.
We still remember how the pro-Trump mob that had attacked the Capitol on January 6, 2021, had assembled in Washington DC in part following a post on Twitter from Trump weeks earlier, promising that it would be “wild.”
Trump’s belligerent supporters will without doubt take the help of the AI technology to prove their points across and make the former President appear ‘innocent’ and a ‘victim of conspiracy’. Social media platforms will be awash with false and incorrect information in support of the tainted former President in the coming weeks.
One can well imagine the impact and consequence of artificial intelligence and ‘fake news’!
Google, Microsoft, Amazon, Twitter and FB guys, are you listening?
Cartoons by Suparno Chaudhuri
Latest development:
The former President, true to his self, defended his case and pleaded not guilty at a Miami court on Tuesday with a litany of lies while his die-hard supporters rallied to his side shouting slogans “We want trump”.
