Trump’s short speech where he seemed to suddenly condemn the riots that he himself instigated is believed to be so as to avoid criminal prosecution. But that statement has outraged some of his followers who were absolutely livid at what they saw as a betrayal.
On social media channels and chatrooms like Parler and 4chan, where far-right Trumpists have gravitated as other social media sites have increasingly shut out the president, there were complaints of betrayal.
Trump claimed on Thursday that he was “outraged by the violence, lawlessness and mayhem” of the Capitol siege that he had incited, and said those who “broke the law will pay” – comments that perhaps reflected concern over mounting legal and political hazard rather than a newfound sense of contrition and integrity.
Nevertheless they prompted an outpouring of anger, grief and denial from his hardline acolytes. “A punch in the gut,” said one. “A stab in the back,” another railed. From a third: “I feel like puking.”
A widely shared screengrab summed up the sentiment: “He says it’s going to be wild and when it gets wild he calls it a heinous attack and middle-fingers to his supporters he told to be there.”
The cries of betrayal were widespread.
After years of fidelity, Donald Trump’s most ardent online fans have finally turned on him.
All it took was for the president to acknowledge the reality of his loss a little over a day after they, the MAGA faithful, stormed the Capitol in a violent attempt to stop the certification of President-elect Joe Biden’s win.
“People were willing to die for this man and he just threw them all under the bus. That’s the only thing that’s shameful about the events of the past 36 hours,” Nick Fuentes, the host of the America First podcast and the unofficial leader of the white nationalist Groyper Army, angrily tweeted, shortly after Trump released a video Thursday night in which he conceded that Biden would be the next president and called for political reconciliation.
Cassandra Fairbanks, a prominent MAGA activist, tweeted: “[He] tells angry people to march to the capitol [and then] proceeds to throw his supporters under the bus.”
Trump later came out with a tweet trying to appease them again.
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
But now his Twitter account has been permanently suspended.
But their are others like the QAnon cult don’t think he conceded. They think it is all part of a deep plan by him.
It was the moment QAnon supporters had hoped would never come: On Thursday night, in a video posted to Twitter, President Donald Trump finally conceded the presidential election to Joe Biden.
But rather than reacting with anger and disillusionment, QAnon supporters did what they always do when things don’t go their way: They came up with their own interpretation.
In QAnon world, Trump’s message was not a concession speech but a signal that everything’s going according to plan and that soon we’ll see a new Trump administration, with disgraced former national security advisor — and major QAnon figure — Michael Flynn as his vice president.
…On the hate-filled social network Gab, a hugely influential QAnon grifter who calls themselves Neon Revolt decoded Trump’s video for their almost 400,000 followers. They claimed Trump’s condemnation of violence was actually a condemnation of antifa — the antifascist group QAnon and others are trying to blame for Wednesday’s attack.
And Neon Revolt also said that since Trump didn’t specifically mention Biden by name, the new administration he was talking about was Trump’s own second term.
We are getting a real-time lesson in how it is always possible to adapt ypour theory to fit any facts.
Maybe we should start saying ideology rather than theory? Facts have long been manipulated to fit in with ideologies, from Marxist-Leninism through to neo-liberalism.
Just recently I’ve stopped wishing the USA had picked someone smarter in 2016. Can you imagine if Trump was a bright as, say, a sheepdog? Biden (and probably Pelosi and Pence too) would likely be dead by now.
@ 2 sonofrojblake
Saved by the stunning level of incompetence of Trump and his supporters. Ouch, but very possible true. The USA is lucky there was not a Stalinto follow up on Lenin—ugh, I think I just gave myself a nightmare.
Everyone who was already under the bus: “First time?”
I think they should be upset about the betrayal on coup day, when Trump said “We” will march on the Capitol, and I will be right there with you. Before he went back to his motorcade and abandoned them.
jrkrideau @ # 3: Saved by the stunning level of incompetence of Trump and his supporters.
Our second close call. If Shrub hadn’t flubbed Katrina, the last 15 years would probably have turned out very differently…
My first thought after Trump’s “peaceful transition” promise was, “Why should we believe him this time?”
I’m not usually particularly pessimistic, but on this occasion, I think I’ll wait to see what the country looks like on the 21st.
I’ll wait and see what it looks like after Trump is dead. You can’t think he or his influence is going to just evaporate on inauguration day?
Just Google The Scorpion and the Frog.
“People were willing to die for this man and he just threw them all under the bus. That’s the only thing that’s shameful about the events of the past 36 hours,” If that is their takeaway from all this then it just shows how stupid they are. If they had paid even the slightest attention to what trump has been doing the last four years they would know that throwing people who were loyal to him under the bus is what he does. He clearly advertised for four years how he operates and ‘rewards’ his followers. Blind leading the blind. It would be comical if it werent so sad.
If you lie down with wolves, don’t be surprised if wake up missing a liver, a heart and a few kidneys. Good grief, is 26,000 documented lies not enough to convince you he’s a…what’s that word…liar?
“People were willing to die for this man and he just threw them all under the bus”
Don’t you die under a bus? So… they got what they wanted? Or were they hoping to *literally* die, rather than just be publicly humiliated and betrayed? Were they fantasising about ending up in Sto Vo Korr or some equally sad bullshit?
The dismay over the bus-throwing is amazing, given that Trump has telegraphed his willingness to backstab and turn on friends and allies for his entire presidency and quite possibly life. I wonder what it’s like to feel that kind of blissful optimism. “Oh, no, not me, he won’t turn on me.” It would sell very well if it came in blisters to be taken with a glass of water.
Trump might be just as disappointed in his supporters as they are in him. Their coup failed* and Trump hates it when his lackeys don’t deliver whatever he wants. The only reason he doesn’t resort to the usual insults, bad-mouthing and “firing” of his mob is that last shred of self-preservation and/or cowardice. Usually his victims face him one on one and there’s a nice, cvilised hierarchy in place that allows him to be brash and boorish -- to put it mildly -- towards his target. But that’s just a theory.
*Same issue as Trump himself, if all the milling in the Capitol is any indicator: Zero long-term planning. To be fair, I wouldn’t know what to do with the Capitol either**, but then I haven’t been buttering myself and my buddies up for years over “taking control”.
**Not entirely true: I’d switch around all the little desks and chairs and then watch the next session live to see which elected officials have the worst OCD as they squirmed sitting at not-MY-desk.
“When I voted for the Leopards Eating People’s Faces Party, I didn’t think they’d eat MY face, sobs person missing a face.”
It seems like a lot of Trump’s base really enjoy seeing those OTHER people hurt and burning the world down, but they get very indignant and self-righteous when they’re on the receiving end. I spent a lot of time in a waiting room yesterday while an elderly family member got care (not COVID-related) and I had literally hours to take in the clips of their outrage. For example, the husband of the military person shot in the throat (who herself had a long history of breaking the law and legal shenanigans) was OUTRAGED that his wife was hurt “in the people’s house” (that she was attempting to destroy). And the outrage of the local-ish guy who wore his company badge to go burn it all down (What, did he tell his company, “I’m taking a long lunch”?!?) and who OUTRAGED that he was fired…or the same outrage from the guy who wore his company-logo shirt, who was also fired. Or the woman bragging that they were starting a revolution…who was OUTRAGED she got maced for trying to destroy the building.
They really can’t see into the future and think consequences don’t apply to them. That’s why they latched onto Trump; he’s the same.
@ 6 Pierce R. Butler
If Shrub hadn’t flubbed Katrina, the last 15 years would probably have turned out very differently…
??
I am not from the USA so I miss this. I thought that Katrina simply reinforced our understanding that Bush was a fool.
Leaks from the White House suggest he enjoyed the spectacle -- and it took some time for aides to convince him it could put him in legal jeopardy -- but he was disappointed they looked so low-class.
But they’re documented by the mainstream media! Trumpkins know that everything the lamestream media writes is fake news!
jrkrideau @ # 15: I thought that Katrina simply reinforced our understanding that Bush was a fool.
For those who already understood that Bush was/is a fool, yes. But the Republicans, so soon after their big victory of 2004, were rumbling about how their Great Leader deserved a third term -- and appeared to have at least some of the Pentagon leadership in agreement.
Of course, when what little left-wing we have in the US started fretting out loud about this, the Wise Pundits of the corporate media tut-tutted about silly paranoiacs seeing fascists under every bed. That didn’t do anything to calm my concerns, as a pretend-crisis followed by a coup seemed exactly the sort of thing that Karl “Bush’s Brain” Rove would consider a clever outside-the-box type of move -- but after the Katrina disaster revealed the entire Bushevik team’s incompetence, I felt much less worried that the generals would march in lockstep behind them.