Cribbing a page from the MAGA set’s playbook, activists in New York City are currently greeting President Donald Trump‘s motorcade with chants of “Lock him up!”
The original “lock her up” chant was famously directed at former secretary of state and two-time losing presidential candidate Hillary Clinton as she campaigned for the presidency in 2016 while under investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (“FBI”).
While functioning as little more than an empty promise issued and cheered on by then-candidate Trump, the “lock her up!” chant became a hallmark bit of candidate Trump’s rage-fueled campaign theatrics, a hook and line for willing crowds of upset conservatives mystified by the FBI’s apparent soft-gloved approach to Clinton’s allegedly unlawful use of a private email server.
Once Trump was elected, however, the idea of locking Clinton up was shelved by the incoming president himself. He said, during an interview with 60 Minutes, “I don’t want to hurt the Clintons, I really don’t. She went through a lot and suffered greatly in many different ways, and I am not looking to hurt them at all. The campaign was vicious.”
The activists in New York City, however, apparently mean business with their chants. Emboldened by special counsel Robert Mueller‘s recent flipping of former Trump national security advisor Michael Flynn–who has agreed to testify against Trump in exchange for prosecutorial leniency–the crowds of anti-Trump protesters have seemingly taken the possibility of bigger fish being caught up in Mueller’s dragnet to heart.
The prospect of criminal charges being issued against President Trump himself–much less impeachment proceedings in response to such charges–are still solidly within the realm of speculation. But opponents of President Trump appear buoyed by the news, promising to flip his campaign’s harsh rhetoric on its head.
One Twitter user suggested, “We need to start organizing “Lock Him Up” rallies where ever #trump goes.”
That suggestion was greeted approvingly. Another user concurred, saying, “Everywhere he goes, people, everywhere he goes. This is how it has to be.”
[image via screengrab]
Follow Colin Kalmbacher on Twitter: @colinkalmbacher