The "Trump app" will be the insurrection on steroids

Though on the podcast Yarvin begins by speaking of a nameless Caesar, he soon lapses into describing this social media interface as a “Trump app.” As I put it in July, quoting Yarvin’s words on the podcast, Trump would used this app

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“to communicate directly with his 80 million supporters on their smart phones, using notifications to tell them that ‘this agency isn’t following my instructions,’ which will prompt them to rally at the proper building, with the crowd ‘steered around by a joystick by Trump himself,’ forming a ‘human barricade around every federal building, supporting Trump’s lawful authority.’ Where maybe 20,000 people stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, millions responding to the Trump app would be much more effective — a modern-day version of the paramilitary groups that ensured Lincoln’s safety during the hard-fought, dangerous 1860 campaign for president that preceded the Civil War (and the president’s subsequent suspension of habeas corpus and shuttering of hundreds of newspapers).” [The Week]

This scenario seems to presume Trump is already ensconced in the Oval Office and attempting to maintain control after a loss, as he was last January. But of course, if he runs in 2024, he will be on the outside looking in, with Joe Biden or Kamala Harris seeking to defend a win from the White House. In that scenario, a Trump app would come in especially handy, as Republican-controlled secretaries of state and state legislatures prepare to decide on whether to certify vote totals or authorize recounts, on what rules will govern such recounts, and on whether and how to allocate electors. Protests arose spontaneously in many places in the post-election period last time. A Trump-controlled social media app, with no external private or public restrictions or oversight, could help the losing candidate foment and direct such protests three years from now, with an eye to encouraging more extreme acts in defiance of long-established democratic norms and laws.

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