Trump’s racist defenders are roused
And so it begins. The masks, or hoods, are coming off. In Texas, a Donald Trump supporter is being held without bond on federal charges of threatening to kill U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan, who presides over the case against Trump for allegedly trying to overturn the 2020 election. Prosecutors said the suspect, Abigail Jo Shry, telephoned Chutkan’s chambers to make an explicit death threat and to call the judge, who is Black, a “stupid slave n-----.”
I won’t repeat the vile epithet Shry allegedly hurled, but its plural rhymes with “RIGGERS” — a word Trump conspicuously used Tuesday, in all-caps, while ranting on social media about the “stolen” election. Trump’s wordplay was quickly echoed, and amplified, by acolytes posting on far-right online platforms.
Meanwhile, in Atlanta, Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, who filed a massive racketeering indictment against Trump and 18 co-defendants last week (and is Black), also has received racist threats that include pictures of gallows and nooses.
And the names and purported addresses of the grand jurors who returned the Fulton County indictment were doxxed on a pro-trump fringe website, according to NBC. The network said one of the responses to the list read: “These jurors have signed their death warrant by falsely indicting President Trump.”
It was always just a matter of time before threats against the public officials and everyday citizens who are holding Trump accountable became explicitly violent and racist. The only question is whether the Republican Party is going to pretend not to notice — which is the same thing as actively joining in.
In addition to Willis, two other Black prosecutors are pursuing legal action against Trump: Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, on criminal charges that Trump allegedly falsified business records; and New York Attorney General Letitia James, who is suing Trump in a civil case for alleged tax fraud. The clear implication of the attacks coming from angry Trump supporters — and the unapologetic claim of Shry’s alleged threat against Chutkan — is that Black Americans have no right to sit in judgment of their MAGA hero.
Given the demographics of New York, Miami, D.C. and Atlanta, it is all but certain that there were Black people on all four of the grand juries that have indicted Trump on criminal charges. For performing their civic duty, these men and women, too, risk being targeted as “RIGGERS.”
In Georgia state courts, unlike in those other jurisdictions, grand jurors’ names are listed in the indictments they hand up. No other personal information is disclosed, but Trump supporters have posted what they purport to be photographs and addresses of some of the Fulton County grand jurors on social media. County officials have declined to comment on what, if any, security arrangements have been made.
According to the Census Bureau, a plurality of Fulton County’s population, 45%, is Black. On Aug. 14, television viewers watched as a Black, female officer from the sheriff’s department brought the Trump indictment to Judge Robert Mcburney (who is white) for his signature; a Black female official, guarded by Black law enforcement personnel, took the paperwork to the county clerk’s office for processing; and, finally, Willis made a brief appearance before reporters.
Two Black election workers in Fulton County, Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss, were falsely and viciously attacked by Trump for supposedly cheating in favor of Joe Biden. Trump supporters harassed them so viciously with racist threats that they had to go into hiding. Deluded MAGA true believers even showed up at the home of Moss’ grandmother, announcing they intended to make a “citizen’s arrest.”
Trump’s attorney and co-defendant, Rudy Giuliani, admitted recently in a sworn court document that the allegations against Freeman and Moss were lies. But Trump has not taken anything back. In his “RIGGERS” post, he vowed to present a report vindicating his election fraud claims this week before backtracking. To their credit, Gov. Brian Kemp, Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and other top Republicans in Georgia have been forthright in defending the accuracy and integrity of both the vote and the vote-counters. But where is the rest of the GOP?
All of the elected officials and presidential candidates who indulge Trump’s stolen-election lies for fear of being defenestrated by the MAGA base — all of those who mumble about “irregularities” in the 2020 vote, or the alleged “weaponization” of the justice system — have a decision to make.
As his legal peril mounts, Trump is nakedly using race as a wedge to animate his most racist white supporters. Are you OK with that, Ron Desantis? Tim Scott? Nikki Haley? Mike Pence? Vivek Ramaswamy? You need to tell us, yes or no, at your coming debate.