On July 18, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard made a post on Twitter alleging “the most powerful people in the Obama administration,” including former President Barack Obama, were involved in a “years-long coup” and a “treasonous conspiracy” against Donald Trump. Her post quickly went viral, amassing over 13 million views over the weekend, and galvanized the online fringe to fantasize about violence against their political enemies. Trump fanned Gabbard’s flames, sharing a racist AI-generated video of Obama being arrested on Truth Social, which Trump owns.
Major news stories generally act as flashpoints for extremists online to ramp up their spread of hatred and advocating for violence. This time was no different, as extremists, clearly inspired by Trump and Gabbard’s social media posts, were given new reason to target their long-time nemesis, President Obama. On platforms like Truth Social, Gab, and Telegram, which are frequently used to spew hatred and share violent political fantasies, users directed racist comments at Barack Obama, and his wife Michelle, and dreamt of political violence, suggesting Obama should face a firing squad or public execution by hanging, a crude reference to America’s dark history of racist mobs lynching Black people.
On Truth Social, comments made between July 17 and July 20 targeting Obama as treasonous and deserving of either imprisonment or execution , rose from three to 36, an 1,100 percent increase, including a high of 56 on July 19, reflecting a monstrous 1,767 percent increase. Gabbard’s post enraged Trump supporters, who were quick to call for a military tribunal against Obama, demanding that Attorney General Pam Bondi “get them all now and don’t waste another day… The punishment for Treason is Hanging,” and that Obama and his former cabinet “should all [be] put up against a wall for a firing squad.” One user expressed glee at the possibility of Obama being “prosecuted for the death penalty,” saying “I’m so happy finally accountability for that corrupt piece of dog sh*t.” Another called for “public trials and public executions” against former members of the Obama administration, saying “our enemies are from within not foreign,” sharing a similar remark from Vice President J.D. Vance, who in a February address to European leaders warned them of “the threat from within.”
User “zennia” on Truth Social calls for Obama and his former administration to face “public trials and public executions” (Source: Truth Social).
On Gab, a platform similar to Twitter, comments made between July 17 and July 20, targeting Obama as treasonous and deserving of either imprisonment or execution rose from nine to 48, representing a 433 percent increase. Users on Gab responded to Gabbard’s allegations by further accusing “commie Jews and black democrats” of “kill[ing] the American elections system.” Others exclaimed they weren’t satisfied with an arrest, saying “Obama should be prosecuted for treason, all asset ceases and both him and Mooochelle deported to Tanzania,” but would “settle for a firing squad of all on [pay-per-view].” In the same comment, the user accuses Obama of being a “Radical Islamic Terrorist Sympathizer” whose goal was to transform America “into a socialist black terrorist sh*t-hole.” Users called for Obama to be lynched, saying “All you need is some rope and a little wood.” Others wanted to take justice into their own hands, including one user who said “I WILL DESTROY AND JAIL ALL OF THE FAKE NEWS MSM ALL CRIMINAL POLITICAL HACKS AND ALL DEEP STATE PLAYERS WILL BE TRIED AND EXCUTED!!!!!!”
A racist user on Gab accuses “commie Jews and black democrats” of trying “to kill the American elections (sic) system” (Source: Gab).
On Telegram, comments made between July 17 and July 20, targeting Obama as treasonous and deserving of either imprisonment or a form of capital punishment rose from zero to 12. A manual review by GPAHE of private Telegram groups not immediately accessible by scraping software revealed numerous other comments. Telegram channels, including ones associating themselves with the conspiratorial QAnon movement, were excited about the prospect of Obama being convicted of treason, which would lead to him facing “the rest of his life in federal prison or the death penalty.” Other chat groups on Telegram, which associate themselves with far-right influencers such as Catturd and extremist groups like the Proud Boys, had several users calling to hang Obama (“he should swing,” “let’s see him swing on national TV”), including calls to “hang them all” and “have a huge fireworks exhibition,” while others fantasized about “DOZENS of executions,” saying “MAKE PUBLIC HANGINGS GREAT AGAIN,” a reference to Trump’s motto, “Make America Great Again.”
One user on a Telegram chat group calls for multiple executions, invoking a new slogan based on Trump’s branding, “MAKE PUBLIC HANGINGS GREAT AGAIN!” (Source: Telegram).
Trump has long threatened his political opponents with persecution, dating back to his first election campaign against Hillary Clinton when calls to “lock her up” ran rampant at his rallies (Clinton was never charged with any crime). He’s since continued his assault on democracy by targeting judges who’ve ruled against him, and now democrats such as Obama and Adam Schiff, who Trump said should go to prison. Trump’s targeting of the judiciary has already led to judges experiencing growing, targeted threats against themselves and their families. And there has been other horrific political violence. In June, a Christian nationalist assassinated Minnesota House Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband, seemingly with political motivations. With violent rhetoric targeting Obama beginning to spread on fringe platforms, fuelled by Trump’s and Gabbard’s posts, we risk further normalizing political violence which is already on the rise.
