Former US President Donald Trump looks on during Round 3 at the LIV Golf-Bedminster 2023 at the ... [+]
Donald Trump promoted a protest at the Fulton County Jail in Atlanta where he’s scheduled to surrender on Thursday. Trump posted about the protest on Truth Social, which is also being promoted by allies who appear to be planning to travel from out of state to show their support for Trump.
Trump shared a screenshot of a tweet from Laura Loomer, an anti-Muslim bigot who was previously banned on Twitter before Elon Musk bought the social media platform in October 2022 and declared a kind of amnesty for many people who’d previously been booted.
“RALLY IN SUPPORT OF OUR PRESIDENT DONALD J TRUMP,” Loomer tweeted on August 21 before it was shared by Trump on Truth Social.
Loomer’s rally is planned for 10 a.m. ET at the Fulton County Jail and included the address in her online poster. Loomer also stressed that the rally should be peaceful, an important thing to note given the violence on January 6, 2021 at the U.S. Capitol.
Trump’s post on Truth Social of Loomer’s announcement also included a screenshot of his own Truth Social post from earlier in the week.
“Can you believe it? I’ll be going to Atlanta, Georgia, on Thursday to be ARRESTED by a Radical Left District Attorney, Fani Willis, who is overseeing one of the greatest Murder and Violent Crime DISASTERS in American History,” Trump wrote on Truth Social on Monday.
“In my case, the trip to Atlanta is not for ‘Murder,’ but for making a PERFECT PHONE CALL! She campaigned, and is continuing to campaign, and raise money on, this WITCH HUNT. This is in strict coordination with Crooked Joe Biden’s DOJ. It is all about ELECTION INTERFERENCE!” Trump continued.
Trump has been charged with a criminal conspiracy to overturn the 2020 presidential election through a number of different methods in Georgia, including a pressure campaign for election officials in the state to “find” the precise number of votes that he lost by. Audiotape of the phone call was published online and is frankly shocking in its brazen disregard for election norms.
Trump is scheduled to be arrested on Thursday and a mug shot will reportedly be taken before he’s released on $200,000 bond, which was negotiated in advance by his legal team. Trump’s former personal attorney Rudy Giuliani surrendered in Georgia on Wednesday and was released on $150,000 bond. Giuliani insists he was merely acting as a lawyer for a concerned citizen, but legal representatives are not shielded from prosecution if they engage in a criminal conspiracy with their client.
Strangely, Trump recently mused on Truth Social about fleeing to Russia rather than face charges in Atlanta, a bizarre tangent that appears to have been done in jest, but you never can tell when Trump is truly “joking.”
The first debate of the 2024 presidential cycle takes place tonight in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where Trump has decided not to appear, despite being the frontrunner for the Republican Party nomination. But it remains to be seen whether that will be a wise decision, since Trump’s absence will allow voters to imagine a world without Trump in it. And as Trump stares down the prospect of going to prison for a very long time before the election in November 2024, that’s probably a good thing for a party that desperately needs to imagine life after Trump.
It’s still too early to see how many people may show up on Thursday in Atlanta for the protest in support of the former president. But it’s certainly encouraging to see people promoting a peaceful presence. The last thing we need is another January 6th.
