2024 Election

Trump’s Waco Rally Today is Expected to Be a Disaster, and His Reason for Choosing Waco is Absolutely Disgusting

Donald Trump is facing heavy scrutiny over his upcoming rally in Waco, Texas even as a welter of investigations loom as he tries to jump-start his faltering 2024 campaign.

This will be the former president’s first major 2024 campaign rally in the state, where he will speak on Saturday, March 25 while he faces a potentially historic indictment in New York stemming from the ongoing investigation into alleged hush money paid to Stormy Daniels, Newsweek reports.

Trump’s campaign announced the rally one day before the ex-president took to Truth Social to speculate that he would be arrested in connection with Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s investigation, and he called for his supporters to protest.

He wrote, “NOW ILLEGAL LEAKS FROM A CORRUPT & HIGHLY POLITICAL MANHATTAN DISTRICT ATTORNEYS OFFICE, WHICH HAS ALLOWED NEW RECORDS TO BE SET IN VIOLENT CRIME & WHOSE LEADER IS FUNDED BY GEORGE SOROS, INDICATE THAT, WITH NO CRIME BEING ABLE TO BE PROVEN, & BASED ON AN OLD & FULLY DEBUNKED (BY NUMEROUS OTHER PROSECUTORS!) FAIRYTALE, THE FAR & AWAY LEADING REPUBLICAN CANDIDATE & FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, WILL BE ARRESTED ON TUESDAY OF NEXT WEEK. PROTEST, TAKE OUR NATION BACK!”

But the timing of the rally is raising additional questions because it coincides with the 30-year anniversary of the Waco siege, where 86 people, including 28 children were killed.

So not only is this indictment looming and the controversy regarding the date and time of the rally but there’s also a good chance Trump’s rally could be hampered by a lack of guest speakers and a sabotage attempt from one of his family members.

And The Houston Chronicle has published a scorching editorial that suggested it’s no coincidence that Trump is showing up in Waco mere days after calling for his supporters to protest his likely upcoming indictment.

For those of us old enough to remember the Waco siege that turned into an absolutely tragic disaster when the members of David Koresh’s Branch Davidian cult clashed with the FBI and an enormous fire engulfed the compound, it resulted in the largest gunfight in American history since the civil war. It became a symbol of government overreach.

It doesn’t help that Trump and other Republicans say that any arrest of the former president is an example of the “weaponization” of the federal government at the hands of the Biden administration, and of course, they claim that any investigations into Trump are politically motivated.

“Trump doesn’t do subtle; dog-whistle messages are not his style,” wrote The Chronicle editorial board. “The more apt metaphor is the blaring air horn of a Mack 18-wheeler barreling down I-10.”

Steven Cheung, Trump’s spokesperson doesn’t seem to see any problems with having the rally in Waco and added that the city was chosen “because it is centrally located to all four of Texas’ biggest metropolitan areas—Dallas/Ft. Worth, Houston, Austin, and San Antonio—while providing the necessary infrastructure to hold a rally of this magnitude.”

“This is the ideal location to have as many supporters from across the state and in neighboring states attend this historic rally,” Cheung told Newsweek.

But there might not be as much “magnitude” as Cheung would like, however.

Trump is apparently having trouble lining up GOP figures to appear as guest speakers at the Waco rally. As the New York grand jury readies itself to vote on whether to indict the former president, Republicans are largely avoiding him.

Several notable Texas Republicans have already said they have other obligations and the names of possible speakers at the rally haven’t been confirmed by Trump’s team. The notable no-shows will include Rep. Troy Nehls, who has endorsed Trump’s 2024 run. However, his aides told Insider he won’t be at the rally because he has an engagement in Washington, D.C. on that day. Rep. Pete Sessions, a native of Waco, also won’t be there because he has a prior engagement and even Mayor Dillon Meek won’t be there because he’s attending a centennial banquet for the 10th Court of Appeals on Saturday.

Meek also said the date of the rally is bad timing because it will once again highlight the Branch Davidian tragedy, something that locals have been trying to forget.

“My hope is that the national image of our city will continue to reflect the positive occurrences in Waco rather than a siege, albeit tragic, that occurred 30 years ago,” Meek said.

Then of course, there’s the former president’s estranged niece, Mary Trump, one of his most vociferous critics. She has called on her social media followers to sign up to get the free rally tickets being offered at the Waco Regional Airport and then not attend as a way to “fill this venue with empty seats.”

“Donald has a rally in Waco this Saturday. It’s a ploy to remind his cult of the infamous Waco siege of 1993, when an anti-government cult battled the FBI. Scores of people died. He wants the same violent chaos to rescue him from justice,” Mary Trump posted to her 1.6 million followers.

“But we can stop him. If we book the 50,000+ venue, we can make sure most of the seats are empty when the traitor takes the stage. We can no longer fail to hold powerful men accountable for their crimes against our country,” she tweeted.

I wish Mary Trump all sorts of luck here. Trump will almost certainly bring his lies, deceit, and hate with him to stir up his supporters if they attend. The situation has the capability of becoming a powder keg and work should be done to diffuse it before things get to that point.

meet the author

Megan has lived in California, Nevada, Arizona, Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Florida and she currently lives in Central America. Living in these places has informed her writing on politics, science, and history. She is currently owned by 15 cats and 3 dogs and regularly owns Trump supporters when she has the opportunity. She can be found on Twitter at https://twitter.com/GaiaLibra and Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/politicalsaurus

Comments

Comments are currently closed.