In between rounds of golf, Trump considers the best way to rally the troops

A Conversation with the Ex-President of the Trump International Golf Course and Interior Secretary Melania Trump: a Call to Mueller and Other Government Appropriations

In between conversations with allies, the former president played golf at his Trump International Golf Course Friday, before joining his wife Melania Trump and members for dinner at his Mar-a-Lago club, where he appeared quieter than usual, a source familiar with the events said, noting that Trump left the dinner scene earlier than usual that night.

According to people who spoke with the former president or members of his inner circle this weekend, he disclosed internal poll and fundraising numbers and vowed to fight the charges.

“As someone who has been present for a rage fit, this [response] has not been that,” another source close to Trump said, but stressed that the former president did not want to be indicted or paraded through court Tuesday. “He is being told by a lot of people that this is a weak case and he can beat it,” the source added, despite the fact that charges have not be revealed and will not be public until the indictment is unsealed.

One source familiar with the former president’s recent conversations said Trump had definitely pissed off and wanted to take this on aggressively.

The former president kept his anger for his social media site and leveled threats at the district attorney. Last week, Trump also went after the judge he’s expected to appear in front of on Tuesday, claiming the judge “hates” him.

The source who has spoken to Trump in recent days said he was thinking about how this can help him but also about what this would mean for him in the future.

On Saturday, Trump was back on the golf course, where he stepped out of the club to wave at supporters gathered across the street and had staff bring the group MAGA hats, sources said.

Trump and his closest advisers spent the weekend planning out what his week would look like, and by Sunday night, the exact plan had not been finalized.

A source close to the plans said that a lot of this can be attributed to the Secret Service and the advice they give to Trump and his team.

Sources also said that Trump’s political advisers were actively discussing how to best campaign off the indictment, which they have portrayed as a political hoax and witch hunt. His team spent the last few days presenting the former president with polls that showed him with a big lead over Florida Gov. Rondels in their head-to-head match up. His mugshot is used on t-shirts and merchandise to serve as a rallying cry for his supporters and to raise money for the campaign.

Sources were uncertain whether a mugshot would be taken because they were not sure if the leak of the mug shot would be a violation of state law.

Source: https://www.cnn.com/2023/04/02/politics/trump-indictment-2024-rallying-cry/index.html

The New York DA and the Trump-Trump witch-hunt hoax: Calling for a peaceful resolution of the NYC/CFT riots

After days of fundraising off the indictment, including a video plea from the former president in both an email and Truth Social post, the team released a memo from campaign heads Susie Wiles and Chris LaCivita saying they had raised more than $5 million in the 48 hours following the indictment.

“Poll after poll show this political persecution by the Manhattan DA has surged overwhelming support for President Trump,” campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung said in a statement. “Over $5 million in donations and more than 16,000 volunteer signups since the announcement of this witch-hunt hoax are key indicators that Americans from all backgrounds are sick and tired of the weaponization of the justice system against President Trump and his supporters.”

An ally of Trump said the people knew this was all political. It will boost his support.

Katherine Keneally, a senior research manager at the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, which tracks online threats, said one reason the calls for violence have been limited after news of Trump’s indictment broke is because his supporters fear being arrested like many of the January 6 rioters were.

FBI and Department of Homeland Security officials have tried to strike a balance between staying vigilant for any emerging threats while also not making too much of online chatter and sharing false alarms with state and local officials. Federal agencies are also wary of opening themselves to political attacks from Republicans eager to call out anything perceived as infringing on people’s First Amendment rights, CNN has reported.

When he posted about his possible arrest two weeks ago, Trump initially called for protests but since it was learned that he would be indicted, he hasn’t called for supporters to come to New York.

The New York Young Republican Club is holding a protest near the court. A previous protest by the group in the area was poorly attended. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Georgia Republican, says she will attend the protest and is calling on her supporters to join.

Over the weekend, there were a few Trump supporters protesting the indictment in places like South Carolina and California. A fight broke out on Saturday during a protest by a small group of Trump supporters in Huntington Beach, California, after which a 33 year old man was arrested.

There has been a steady stream of violence in the public eye and it has focused on the Manhattan District Attorney. One user on a pro-Trump forum reacting to Bragg’s push to indict Trump: “There once was a time when he would have been lynched for much less.”

There seems to be little discussion about going to the event. And a constant theme on pro-Trump message boards in recent weeks has been a fear that any protests may be a trap set by federal agents.

“Remember what happened last time Trump called for a protest? A post was shared on a Telegram channel of the Proud Boys group, stating that he threw everyone under the bus.

Is Trump’s January 6th campaign targeted or motivated by threats? The case of Meghan Conroy, a former investigator on the House Select Committee

The feds have a concern that the information they give to state and local officials about potential threats could be used as a pretext to attack them, a source told CNN.

To keep track of inflammatory online chatter, researchers must balance keeping a close eye on threats against the president and not overplaying them.

This is in stark contrast to the days leading up to January 6, when Trump supporters discussed traveling to Washington, DC, after Trump called them to the city.

“Unlike January 6, we are not seeing widespread discussions about logistical preparations for protests,” Adi Cohen, the chief operating officer of Memetica, an online threat intelligence company, told CNN on Sunday.

The incident will likely be used to mobilize Trump supporters to be more involved with the campaign in the long run, particularly as the 2024 campaign begins to pick up.

Meghan Conroy, a former investigator on the House January 6 select committee, told CNN that she expected that far-right online denizens would behave similarly to how they did after the FBI’s search of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence last year, with more bluster than bite in terms of threats.

I am not sure if I am worried about mass, January 6th-stylemobilization in support of Trump. No,” said Conroy, who is now a research fellow with the Atlantic Council’s Digital Forensic Research Lab. “Am I worried about targeted attacks against the Manhattan DA, members of the Democratic Party, so-called RINOs, or any number of the individuals or entities that Trump has tried to sic his followers on? Absolutely.”

“Leading up to Tuesday, we will be looking for any new narratives surrounding the indictment that mobilize individuals to offline action, indicators that supporters are organizing (particularly any extremist groups), and content suggestive of credible threats,” Keneally told CNN.