Why did Trump kick-off his 2024 presidential campaign in Waco, Texas? Who were the Branch Davidians, anyway?
Julian unpacks the incendiary streams of far-right anti-government militia history and religious apocalypticism that our former president is tapping into as he faces legal jeopardy. It all goes back almost 300 years to the original Great Awakening that QAnon and New Age channelers tried to remix in 2020.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Okay, so did you notice this weird thing that happened?
When Donald Trump launched his 2024 presidential campaign with his first rally of this year on Saturday, March 25th, he held the event in Waco, Texas, home to the notorious siege involving Branch Davidian cult leader, polygamist, pedophile, and self-proclaimed final prophet David Koresh.
Now, we'll talk in a little bit about the significance of that siege, but for now, let's just note that it happened exactly 30 years ago, in 1993.
years ago in 1993. In fact it lasted 51 days spanning between February 28th and April 19th.
So to anyone for whom those events were significant, kicking off a political campaign
on the 30-year anniversary actually on a date pretty much bang in the middle of the period
during which the apocalyptic Christian leader and his sect were holed up in a compound heavily armed
surrounded by law enforcement and government agencies, that might send a message.
I mean, I could be reading too much into it, right?
Hello Patreon supporters.
Do it.
Julian here with another premium episode for you on the topic of political religion.
This one is called The Final Battle.
So what do you think?
Am I reading too much into Trump's Waco appearance?
Well, here are some highlights from his speech.
And 2024 is the final battle.
That's going to be the big one.
Our enemies are desperate to stop us because they know that we are the only ones who can stop them.
All of the hatred, rage, and contempt The radical left has for you and your values and this nation has been very much directed on me.
Either the deep state destroys America or we destroy the deep state.
They're not coming after me, they're coming after you and I'm just standing in their way.
Okay, so that's just boilerplate Trump, right?
But it's also significant that the nation has been on tenterhooks for the last two weeks regarding the supposed imminent announcement of an indictment out of New York County from their DA Alvin Bragg.
As everyone knows, this is the Stormy Daniels hush money case, widely considered the least consequential of the major pending legal entanglements hanging over the former president.
It's been international news that Trump has said Alvin Bragg was backed by the rights boogeyman international Jewish banker George Soros.
He's also called him an animal and that he posted a picture of himself wielding a baseball bat next to a photo of the DA saying that there would be death and destruction if he was indicted.
It's also been news that Alvin Bragg has been the subject of death threats.
So for Trump styling himself as a man of the people unfairly targeted by a weaponized justice system with suspicious left-wing funding at the end of a week in which he had reportedly been rehearsing his perp walk amongst his inner circle should he be arrested, and doing all of this in a town with such a storied relevance in anti-government circles, it really does seem quite telling.
Now, here's the other half of that shit sandwich.
Trump started the rally in Waco with an announcement over the PA for attendees to rise and place their hand on their heart.
They were then correctly told that they'd be hearing a song that was number one on iTunes, Amazon, and the Billboard charts.
It's called Justice For All, and I'm not going to play it for you.
It features a rendition of the National Anthem by the J6 Prison Choir, who were literally recorded singing through phones from prison.
The verses of the National Anthem pause to be interspersed with a Donald Trump voiceover reciting the Pledge of Allegiance.
And that whole awful experience ends with the prison gang enthusiastically chanting, USA!
USA!
Six times.
Now, at the rally, supporters had been given signs to wave that read, Witch Hunt.
For those who have been wronged and betrayed, he said, I am your retribution.
He also called Alvin Bragg's investigation into him worse than ballot stuffing.
And of course, he also tossed out all of the predictable red meat.
You know, when elected, he's going to enact mass deportations, ban critical race theory, restrict transgender rights, and stop funding Ukraine's defense against Russia's invasion.
Now, I know all of this is probably familiar to you, because it's been such a big story in the news cycle.
I wanted to start here and then zero in on two things.
The first will be the significance to anti-government militia movements of what happened in Waco, Texas 30 years ago.
And the second will be the even deeper religious underpinnings.
