(New York) It may just be a coincidence. But Donald Trump, targeted by a possible indictment in New York, would not be the first presidential candidate to choose a place with a heavy past to send a message to a particular fringe of the American electorate.
Three days ago, the former president’s campaign team announced that he would hold the first rally of his third presidential campaign in Waco, Texas, next Saturday.
Brief historical reminder before going further: 30 years ago next month, Waco was the scene of an American apocalypse. After a 51-day siege, 76 reclusive members of the Branch Davidian cult died in the fire they started during the final assault by federal law enforcement, who suspected them of amassing an arsenal illegal firearms.
PHOTO PROVIDED BY THE FBI, FROM WIKICOMMONS
Aerial view of the April 19, 1993 fire that destroyed the Davidians’ residence in Waco
Ever since, the Waco siege or massacre has been seen by the American far right as proof of the federal government’s hostility to ordinary citizens. Timothy McVeigh, author of the Oklahoma City federal building bombing that killed 168 and injured more than 680, had also expressed hope that his act of terror would end the “war” started according to him in Waco.
The Oklahoma City bombing, it should be remembered, occurred on April 19, 1995, two years to the day after the Waco apocalypse.
It may just be a coincidence. But the announcement of Donald Trump’s rally in the Texas city comes at a time when the former president seems to feel besieged like never before by American justice. He also predicted on Truth Social on Saturday his imminent arrest in New York in connection with the Stormy Daniels case, named after the porn actress, and called on his supporters to demonstrate, much like he had done in anticipation. of January 6, 2021, the date of the assault on the Capitol.
On Saturday, Donald Trump also amplified the call to arms of one of his supporters on his social network.
“They will have to find a way to fight 80 million plus people,” the supporter wrote. People my age and older will physically fight for him this time around. What do we have to lose? »
And to conclude: “We are armed and ready to shoot. »
In the Footsteps of Reagan
By going to Waco next Saturday, Donald Trump could, in a way, follow in the footsteps of Ronald Reagan.
On August 3, 1980, the future president had also chosen a highly symbolic place to hold his first rally after being invested by the Republican Party as a presidential candidate. It was the site of the annual Neshoba County Fair, located just outside of Philadelphia, the Mississippi city where, as the film tells Mississippi Burningthree civil rights activists – two whites and one black – were killed by members of the Ku Klux Klan in 1964.
It was there that the Republican governor of California, opposed to Jimmy Carter, a Democratic president from the South, addressed in coded terms the white supremacists of the region, some of whom were still registered on the electoral rolls as Democrats. .
“I was once a Democrat myself,” Ronald Reagan told them. A few moments later, he will add: “I believe in the rights of States. »
He didn’t need to say more. For decades, whites in the Southern states have invoked “states rights” to justify their segregationist laws.
Ronald Reagan had therefore just used what is called a racist “dog-whistle”.
Donald Trump, he is not used to doing in dilogy, a term that the Quebec Office of the French language recommends to speak of this rhetorical device which makes it possible to conceal remarks “at the limits of political correctness”.
In recent years, the former president has often endorsed or used language suggesting the use of violence in response to his possible impeachment or indictment.
In 2019, for example, he quoted on Twitter this statement from a Texas pastor, Robert Jeffress, heard on Fox News at the time of the first impeachment proceedings against him: “If the Democrats manage to impeach the president, I fear that this will cause a civil war-like fracture from which the country will never recover. »
Last year, Donald Trump made a similar speech when discussing his possible indictment in connection with the discovery by the FBI of classified documents at Mar-a-Lago, his private club in Palm Beach.
“I think this country would have problems the likes of which it may never have had before. I don’t think the people of the United States would accept it,” he said in an interview with a conservative radio host.
Very soon 30 years ago in Waco, the FBI and other federal agencies made fatal mistakes that contributed to the cremation of Guru David Koresh and most of his followers. Probably the most important was to use tactics against this doomsday cult intended for ordinary criminal groups.
But that in no way diminished the responsibility of the Branch Davidian guru, who wanted to die a martyr.
Almost 30 years later, Donald Trump will therefore find himself in Waco at a crucial moment in his political career. In the coming days, he could become the first former US president to be charged with a crime.
And while the site of the first rally of his third presidential campaign may just be a fluke, there is nothing reassuring about this one.