In a seemingly scripted video message that emerged shortly after his recent 12-hour Twitter ban ended on Thursday, outgoing President Donald Trump publicly acknowledged, for what seems like the first time, that he will no longer be president within a couple of weeks. That video message went up the day after a violent mob of the outgoing president’s supporters attacked the U.S. Capitol building, rampaging through the premises and forcing lawmakers to flee for their safety. No matter any sniveling attempt at a backtrack, Trump incited the violence. On Friday, Trump took to Twitter for the first time following his post-riot video message, where he insisted that all of his voters “will have a GIANT VOICE long into the future.”
He didn’t explicitly exclude the Capitol rioters from his insistence on a “voice” for his supporters, no matter the fact that the Capitol attackers clearly backed him. His petulant proclamation that his supporters “will not be disrespected” makes him seem like he’s somehow trying to characterize his own base as victims in present circumstances, which is just stunning. His base is who attacked the U.S. Capitol building, sending lawmakers fleeing for their safety!
Partially devolving into all caps, Trump tweeted as follows:
‘The 75,000,000 great American Patriots who voted for me, AMERICA FIRST, and MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN, will have a GIANT VOICE long into the future. They will not be disrespected or treated unfairly in any way, shape or form!!!’
The 75,000,000 great American Patriots who voted for me, AMERICA FIRST, and MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN, will have a GIANT VOICE long into the future. They will not be disrespected or treated unfairly in any way, shape or form!!!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 8, 2021
Trump’s language mirrors comments that he issued on Wednesday, as D.C. and the nation reeled from the Capitol violence. He justified this violence against the seat of the U.S. government, writing on Twitter that “[these] are the things and events that happen when a sacred landslide victory is so unceremoniously & viciously stripped away from great patriots who have been badly & unfairly treated for so long.” His claim that his rightful election victory was stolen is, of course, delusional — courts across the country have rejected the Trump team’s systematic fraud claims, over and over. In a video message that he shared shortly before that justification for the Capitol violence, Trump called the rioters “special” people, adding, in another stunning display of petulant cultishness: “We love you!”
Check out Twitter’s response below:
