Former U.S. President Donald Trump and his supporters are reacting to a third indictment against him with a now-familiar playbook: deflecting with unrelated accusations, distracting with misleading claims about the charges, and demonizing the prosecution.
Instead of convincing his followers about the seriousness of the charges, Tuesday’s indictment is being held up as proof of a conspiracy to take down the Republican ex-president and a continuation of the effort by Democrats, the media and the so-called deep state to interfere with the nation’s elections.
For years Trump has told his supporters that elections can’t be trusted and that he is a victim of a corrupt persecution by the government and media. With that narrative endorsed by conservative news outlets and amplified on social media, it’s only natural that many of Trump’s supporters will accept it, said Ruth Ben-Ghiat, a New York University historian who studies authoritarian propaganda.
“He’s set up the idea since 2016 that elections themselves are corrupt and cannot be trusted. This is seven years now of this narrative,” Ben-Ghiat said.
“Trump is one of the most superb propagandists of the 21st century. He has created this seamless world, where to his followers, everything just confirms his victimhood.”
Trump’s repeated lies about the election are at the heart of the latest indictment, which alleges Trump sought to overturn his 2020 election loss in the two months before his supporters violently assaulted the U.S. Capitol.
“The attack on our nation’s capital on January 6, 2021, was an unprecedented assault on the seat of American democracy,” special counsel Jack Smith said Tuesday.
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“As described in the indictment, it was fueled by lies. Lies by the defendant targeted at obstructing a bedrock function of the U.S. government, the nation’s process of collecting, counting, and certifying the results of the presidential election.”
Separately, the ex-President faces charges that he falsified business records relating to hush money payments to a porn actor in New York and improperly kept classified documents at his Palm Beach, Florida, resort and obstructed an investigation into their handling.
To his most dedicated supporters, the allegations against Trump are just more evidence of the conspiracy. It’s a sentiment that spread quickly on social media after Trump’s first and second indictments, and it was easily found Wednesday on Telegram, Gab, Truth Social and other platforms popular with conservatives.
“The Democrats stole the 2020 election,” conservative filmmaker Dinesh D’Souza posted on Truth Social and X, the platform formerly known as Twitter. “This indictment is an attempt to protect the thieves and legitimize the heist.”
Much of the misinformation about the indictments has originated with Trump, who instead of trying to minimize his legal jeopardy has made it a centerpiece of his campaign, framing it as an assault on democracy, freedom and his own followers.
The former President’s allies — and his legal defense team — argue that the indictment illegally criminalizes Trump’s protected freedom of speech. Trump attorney John Lauro said on CNN on Tuesday that the team’s “focus is on the fact that this is an attack on free speech and political advocacy.” “Free speech will not survive if this indictment succeeds,” former Trump adviser Stephen Miller told Fox News.
Fox News host Greg Gutfeld piggybacked on the narrative, saying, “You have every right to think an election might be rigged or fixed.”
AFP