Even the NYPD views MAGA as a terrorist threat—and they are right.

MAGA must now be viewed as a terrorist movement

“Security was heightened as police officers and court officers set up barricades outside the courthouse”

“The NYPD and other law enforcement agencies — including the U.S. Secret Service and the FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force — are preparing security plans in and around the Manhattan criminal courthouse.”

“Intelligence sources told CBS News that there's been a "significant increase" in threats and violent rhetoric online from domestic violent extremists.”

“NYPD officers of every rank were ordered to wear their uniforms and prepare for deployment starting Tuesday as law enforcement agencies at all levels of government shore up security plans ahead of a potential indictment in Manhattan criminal court this week.”

"This crowd gives me pause, because there are different groups that could come in armed. They could come in with explosives. they could come in with Molotov cocktails,” says former New York Homeland Security and Emergency Services commissioner.   

You would expect to read those lines about an upcoming trial of the leader of a terrorist movement or a mob boss.  But instead that is reporting from articles over the past few days since Donald Trump repeatedly called on his supporters to “PROTEST!” if he is charged with crimes.

As I wrote about Sunday, Trump’s call for “PROTESTS” to “SAVE AMERICA” as he put it, instantly conjured up Trump’s calls to his supporters to gather in Washington, D.C. on Jan 6. That is why the NYPD and others have to prepare for potential MAGA terrorism.

But take a moment and think about where we are as a nation: The NYPD is implementing safeguards because they are credibly concerned of MAGA waging a terrorist attack to defend the leader of the GOP, Donald Trump. How can this be the United States in 2023?! But it is because of Trump and a majority of the GOP base per polls—as I also noted in my article Sunday-support violence to achieve political goals. We have never seen anything like this is our lives.

Even Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg has concerns of MAGA violence, telling his staff by way of an email Saturday night that, “We do not tolerate attempts to intimidate our office or threaten the rule of law in New York.” He added—while not mentioning Trump by name—that, “Our law enforcement partners will ensure that any specific or credible threats against the office will be fully investigated and that the proper safeguards are in place so all 1,600 of us have a secure work environment.”

And they should be concerned. We now have intelligence that warns MAGA is openly advocating more violence on behalf of their leader. On Monday night, CBS news reported that Intelligence sources noted that there was "significant increase" in “threats and violent rhetoric online from domestic violent extremists as former President Donald Trump claimed he will be indicted by a Manhattan grand jury.”

And ABC news reported Monday, that “an intelligence bulletin issued Sunday by the Homeland Security and Emergency Management Agency in Washington, D.C., “says that some extremists consider the possible indictment of Trump a call to violence.” Specifically, this warning explained that, "Potential criminal justice actions taken toward a former US president -- or actions perceived to be taken toward the former president -- remain a 'line in the sand' for Domestic Violent Extremists (DVE) communities and thus have the potential to manifest in violence toward government targets or political officials.”

MAGA’s history of violence goes far beyond just their Jan 6 terrorist attack. MAGA has long engaged in violence to defend Trump--from punching people at his campaign rallies to the “MAGA Bomber” to most recently the “unprecedented” number of threats against the FBI after Mar-a-Lago was searched in August. In fact, after the FBI searched Trump’s home, we even saw a MAGA terrorist attack on the FBI office in Cincinnati that left the attacker dead.

What the NYPD--and other agencies--are doing to keep people safe from MAGA are exactly what has been done when Al Qaeda terrorists and drug kingpins were brought to trial in New York City. In 2010, when an Al Qaeda operative was being tried in a lower Manhattan courthouse for his role in the bombings of two U.S. embassies in Africa in 1998, existing security measures around the courthouse were “supplemented with visible as well as discreet security enhancements.”

When 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and his co-conspirators were brought to the same Manhattan courthouse, the police created a several block perimeter around the courthouse. That type of security must certainly be considered if Trump ultimately goes to trial and he calls his supporters to the courthouse to “protest” on his behalf.

Heightened security was also in place for the 2018 federal trial of notorious accused drug kingpin Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman. In that case, special security procedures were also implemented for jurors and witnesses, to ensure that “El Chapo’s” allies didn’t threaten or kill them.  If Trump is tried, there’s little doubt the same type of security will be needed to protect witnesses from MAGA militants.

And given Trump has often been rightly compared to mob boss John Gotti—known as “The Teflon Don” --the potential for jury tampering is even more acute. In the 1987 racketeering trial of Gotti, the jury acquitted the mobster. But later the foreman was indicted on charges that he conspired with the mob to sell his vote and influence the jury for $60,000.  That juror was convicted in 1992  of obstruction-of-justice charges.

And Gotti was caught on tape plotting to intimidate witnesses before his final 1992 trial that sent him away for life. "Members and associates of the Gambino crime family have been actively seeking to identify both jurors and witnesses in an attempt to influence their decisions in regard to this case," reads a Feb. 10, 1992, FBI memo. Does anyone doubt Trump would try the same moves?

After all, Trump as President--often using Twitter—attempted like Gotti to both induce witnesses to remain loyal to him and to attack them. For example, when it came to Michael Cohen--who is now a key witness against Trump in the Manhattan DA’s case--Trump at first praised Cohen after his offices were searched in 2018. Then Trump tweeted, “Michael is a businessman for his own account/lawyer who I have always liked & respected. Most people will flip if the Government lets them out of trouble, even if it means lying or making up stories. Sorry, I don’t see Michael doing that despite the horrible Witch Hunt and the dishonest media!”

And behind the scenes we know from the Mueller report that Trump ally Robert Costello told Cohen he had a “backchannel” to Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani who made it clear: “You are ‘loved’ ... they are in our corner. ... Sleep well tonight…you have friends in high places.” But once Cohen began cooperating with the FBI, Trump tweeted calling him a “rat” and later used Twitter to urge that the judge give Cohen a long prison sentence.  

Does anyone doubt that Trump will use social media to demonize witnesses who will be testifying against him? Of course not—he is literally doing that today with attacks on Michael Cohen saying “deception and lying is what he is doing here!" The only question is will MAGA militants attack those witnesses?

Our nation finds itself in this unprecedented situation because of Donald Trump and the military wing of the GOP known as MAGA. The question is how much more violence will MAGA be permitted to wage before it’s rightfully labeled a terrorist group?

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