Former President Donald Trump shared a post to social media on Monday that endorsed military tribunals for his political enemies. The post came around the time that the Supreme Court ruled that former presidents are immune to prosecution for any “official actions” while in office.
After the 6-3 decision related to the criminal case against Trump over alleged efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election, Justice Sonia Sotomayor warned in her dissent that the ruling would allow a president to order the “Navy’s Seal Team 6 to assassinate a political rival.”
And while Trump’s biggest supporters attempted to downplay the concern, Trump himself had been busy over on his social media platform Truth Social playing into the idea of political revenge.
An image shared by Trump by an account known as @akaPR0B0SS stated that Elizabeth Cheney, the former Republican representative for Wyoming, was “guilty of treason.”
“Retruth if you want televised military tribunals,” the image continued.
The obsession over military tribunals, which are designed to try and prosecute members of enemy forces during wartime, largely stems from the QAnon movement. Conspiracy theorists believe that such a system will be used to execute the president’s enemies or place them indefinitely at the Guantánamo Bay detention camp.
Trump also reposted several memes from a QAnon supporting account during his bender.
Responses to Trump after he shared the image targeting Cheney, who has long been critical of the former president and his role in the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, were filled with joyous celebration.
“This is absolutely what America needs to bring back faith in our Government,” the user @dbarbour replied. “Fast trials and fast executions.”
“Televised hangings,” another added.
While this is far from the first time that Trump has shared threatening content, the timing of the post appears to have empowered many on the far right.
“Get the ropes ready, if found guilty of treason they ALL SHOULD HANG it will stop the next one from happening,” a separate user added.
But Trump’s shocking endorsement appears to have been quickly deleted and is no longer visible on his profile. The account he shared the image from, though, continues to celebrate being promoted.
“IT IS MY GREAT HONOR HAVING BEEN RETRUTHED BY @realDonaldTrump NOT ONCE BUT 6 TIMES!” @akaPr0B0SS said. “IT IS VERY VALIDATING KNOWING OUR EFFORTS ARE NOT GOING UNNOTICED.”
During last week’s debate, Trump denied that he would seek revenge on his political foes and instead claimed that “success” will be his retribution.
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