In ‘mirror world’, Trump is martyr and Biden is autocrat, as calls for violence erupt on internet after ex-president’s conviction

The posts are ominous.

“Pick a side, or YOU are next,” wrote conservative talkshow host Dan Bongino on the Truth Social media platform in the aftermath of Donald Trump’s 34 felony convictions.

The replies were even more so.

“Dan, seriously now,” one user wrote in response to Bongino. “I see no way out of all this mess without bloodshed. When you can rig an election, then weaponize the government and the courts against a former President, what other alternative is there? I’m almost 70 and would rather die than live in tyranny.”

That’s a common version of how many people on the US right reacted to the ex-president’s verdict, drawing on a “mirror world” where Trump is seen as the selfless martyr to powerful state forces and Joe Biden is the dangerous autocrat wielding the justice system as his own personal plaything and a threat to US democracy.

Calls for revenge, retribution and violence littered the rightwing internet as soon as Trump’s guilty verdict came down, all predicated on the idea that the trial had been a sham designed to interfere with the 2024 election. Some posted online explicitly saying it was time for hangings, executions and civil wars.

  • xmunk
    45•4 months ago4 months ago

    Honestly, this may sound controversial… but if we deny teens the vote, I’m not certain why the hell we allow retirees to vote.

    • Kecessa
      20•4 months ago

      Can’t vote for the first 18 years of your life? Can’t vote for the last 18 either (based on average life expectancy), just watch how things improve dramatically if such a measure is put in place.

      Same logic with holding elected positions, if people younger than X can’t be elected then people older than (life expectancy - X) can’t either. And yes, I realize that it leaves very few years for men to become president in the US’ case and that’s not a bad thing at all.

      • zalgotext
        12•4 months ago

        Anything that motivates increasing the national average life expectancy is a good thing

        • Kecessa
          11•4 months ago

          I don’t want anyone that won’t live with the consequences of their political decisions to be in a position where they get to decide for those who will.

          It would mean losing a few progressive voices, but also losing a ton of far right and center right voices and opening the door to people who actually have a reason to care for what’s going to happen in the next 50 years because it concerns then directly.

          • jj4211
            2•4 months ago

            I don’t want anyone that won’t live with the consequences of their political decisions to be in a position where they get to decide for those who will.

            On the flip side, young folks vote influences things like social security and medicare. Given that everyone of all ages is subject to various government policies, often uniquely, you cannot have a system where you can identify a subpopulation that ‘shouldn’t count’ by that logic.

            • Kecessa
              4•4 months ago

              And young folks influence it in their favor for the long term which also benefits people that are currently old instead of old folks pulling the ladder after them.