\u2018An eye for an eye\u2019, said Arizona congressman, while another representative from Louisiana gave militaristic instructions<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Belligerent and conspiracy-laden rhetoric from high-profile Republican backers of Donald Trump<\/a> has heightened fears that the former US president\u2019s campaign against his legal troubles could trigger political violence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Fewer than 24 hours after Donald Trump was indicted, Arizona congressman Andy Biggs went on Twitter and used violent language to call for retribution. \u201cWe have now reached a war phase,\u201d he said<\/a>. \u201cAn eye for an eye.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Clay Higgins, another Republican congressman from Louisiana, gave militaristic instructions to his followers. \u201cThis is a perimeter probe from the oppressors. Hold. rPOTUS has this,\u201d he tweeted<\/a>, using an abbreviation to refer to Trump as the real president.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Higgins added: \u201cBuckle up. 1\/50K know your bridges. Rock steady calm. That is all,\u201d he added, using an apparent\u2002<\/a>reference to military-scale maps. (Two days later Higgins tweeted<\/a>: \u201cLet Trump handle Trump, he\u2019s got this. We use the Constitution as our only weapon. Peace. Hold.\u201d)<\/p>\n\n\n\n The statements from the two far-right congressmen \u2013 both of whom voted to overturn the 2020 election \u2013 underscore the alarming way that violent rhetoric has seeped into mainstream US political discourse in the Republican party especially in the wake of Trump\u2019s indictment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n An estimated 12 million adults<\/a> \u2013 4.4% of the US population \u2013 believe violence is justified to return Trump to power, according to a recent survey by the University of Chicago\u2019s Project on Security & Threats (CPOST).<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI\u2019ve been reporting on rightwing movements for 20 years. The \u2018heat\u2019 is hotter, the blast stronger. And the source more pungent,\u201d said Jeffrey Sharlet, a professor at Dartmouth College and author of The Undertow<\/a>, a book studying the far right. \u201cThe \u2018rhetoric\u2019 is specific: while Twitter giggled at what it took to be the \u2018word salad\u2019 of Higgins\u2019 statement, those who study militias read it as the call to arms it is.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n It is language that has been encouraged by Trump himself since before he was elected but that perhaps peaked around the January 6 attack on the US Capitol as his supporters invaded the building to try and prevent the certification of Joe Biden\u2019s election win.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As a candidate in 2016, Trump pledged to cover the legal fees of supporters who assaulted protesters at his rallies. \u201cI\u2019d like to punch him in the face,\u201d he said<\/a> of one protester at a 2016 rally.<\/p>\n\n\n\n On 6 January 2021, Trump used violent language as he encouraged his supporters to descend on the US Capitol to block the certification of the electoral college vote. \u201cWe fight like hell and if you don\u2019t fight like hell, you\u2019re not going to have a country anymore,\u201d he said. What followed was the deadliest assault on the US capitol in American history with five people dying in connection with the attack.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There was evidence that Trump\u2019s violent language was inspiring his supporters. On The Donald, a pro-Trump forum, users called for violence in order to restore Trump to the presidency, Rolling Stone reported<\/a>. \u201cThe only way this country ever becomes anything like the Constitution says this country should be is if thousands of traitorous rats are publicly executed,\u201d one user wrote, according to the magazine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A 2020 survey by ABC News<\/a> found at least 54 criminal cases in which Trump was invoked in connection with violent acts or threats of violence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWhat\u2019s happening in the United States is political violence is going from the fringe to the mainstream,\u201d Robert Pape, a professor at the University of Chicago who leads CPOST, told the Guardian earlier this month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Trump allies outside of Washington have also relied on violent language to defend the former president since his most recent indictment for his handling of classified documents after he left the White House.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIf you want to get to President Trump, you\u2019re going to have to go through me, and you\u2019re going to have to go through 75 million Americans just like me,\u201d Kari Lake, the failed Arizona gubernatorial candidate, said<\/a> in a speech on Friday to applause. \u201cAnd I\u2019m going to tell you, most of us are card-carrying members of the NRA. That\u2019s not a threat, that\u2019s a public service announcement.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Pete Santilli, a far-right talk show host, called on the military to use zip-ties to detain Biden, put him in the back of a pickup truck and get him out of the White House, according to the New York Times<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Another guest on the show said he would \u201cprobably shoot\u201d Mark Milley, the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, if it were legal, the Times reported. Santilli also previously called for the execution of former president Barack Obama and other officials if Trump was indicted<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sharlet, the Dartmouth professor, said the violent rhetoric got worse each day that it persisted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cEvery day it corrodes the hope of democracy. Every day it encourages so-called \u2018lone wolves\u2019 \u2013 the real militia to whom such not-so-coded signals are broadcast \u2013 to take action,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n