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From on-screen meltdowns and calls for war to questionable legal advice and cryptic (as well as not-so-cryptic) incitements of violence, the reaction of leading right-wing figures to the news of Donald Trump’s indictment was everything you’d expect: insane, unhinged, hilarious, frightening, and ill-informed.
To illustrate how wild things got on Fox “News” and social media, we compiled a list of the top five craziest responses.
Let’s get started with Fox host Mark Levin, who absolutely lost it on Sean Hannity’s show. During an impressive seven-minute rant, he made the case that it was the well-documented indictment of Trump that was an “insurrection” and not the actual insurrection from January 6.
But Levin wasn’t done.
“What’s going on here is a disgusting disgrace and it is a war on Trump, a war on the Republican party, and a war on the republic,” he said.
Levin was so worked up that, at times, one had to be concerned that he would suffer an aneurysm and become the first victim of that war.
Fortunately, he lived to fight another day.
Speaking of war, Republican lawmakers offered plenty of bellicose rhetoric.
Take Rep. Andy Biggs (R-AZ), who subtly tweeted: “We have now reached a war phase. Eye for an eye.”
We have now reached a war phase.
Eye for an eye.
— Rep Andy Biggs (@RepAndyBiggsAZ) June 9, 2023
However, Biggs left us guessing which Democrat he wants to charge with keeping highly classified information in a chandeliered bathroom.
Equally cryptic, but much more disconcerting, was a tweet from Rep. Clay Higgins (R-LA).
President Trump said he has "been summoned to appear at the Federal Courthouse in Miami on Tuesday, at 3 PM."
This is a perimeter probe from the oppressors. Hold. rPOTUS has this.
Buckle up. 1/50K know your bridges. Rock steady calm. That is all.
— Rep. Clay Higgins (@RepClayHiggins) June 9, 2023
In case you are wondering, “rPOTUS” means “real President of the United States,” and the rest is just some weird military jargon. It’s unclear whether Higgins simply wants to sound tough or earn himself an incitement of violence charge. Maybe his ultimate goal is to become bunkmates with Trump.
It’s tough to imagine what exactly went through his mind when he composed this masterpiece, but anything other than, “I probably shouldn’t be in Congress,” would be deeply troubling.
But it wasn’t just Republican men who were openly threatening violence.
Last year’s Arizona gubernatorial candidate (and, in her mind, Arizona governor) Kari Lake said at a rally that she had a message for Attorney General Merrick Garland, special counsel Jack Smith, President Joe Biden, and the fake news media.
“If you wanna get to President Trump, you’re gonna have to go through me, and you’re gonna have to go through 75 million Americans just like me,” Lake told a fired-up crowd. “And I’m gonna tell you, most of us are card-carrying members of the NRA. That’s not a threat, that’s a public service announcement.”
But Republicans had more to offer than declarations of war and threats that are actually public service announcements.
Noted legal scholar and former Rep. Jason Chaffetz went on Fox to offer a brilliant theory that Trump should totally try out at trial.
Chaffetz: These are documents generated by computers. There is an argument to be made they already have these documents. They are runoff of a printer. The president has the same security clearance as he did as president. He continues to have that clearance pic.twitter.com/2fRPTCThxP
— Acyn (@Acyn) June 9, 2023
Chaffetz, widely considered to be one of the great legal minds in US history, suggested that the former president should not be charged for hoarding top secret files because those documents were copies.
Because everybody knows that once you make a copy of nuclear launch codes or a list of covert operatives and take them home, that’s totally legal.
