WASHINGTON — After former President Donald Trump was indicted on federal charges last week, Rep. Clay Higgins (R-La.) urged Trump supporters to “buckle up” in a tweet that struck many as inflammatory.
After all, the former president’s supporters once rioted at the U.S. Capitol in order to help Trump undo the 2020 election result. Another lawmaker, Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.), described the situation as entering a “war phase” and suggested Republicans would take an “eye for an eye.”
But Higgins insisted his message has been misconstrued.
“President Trump said he has ‘been summoned to appear at the Federal Courthouse in Miami on Tuesday, at 3 PM,’” Higgins wrote on Thursday. “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.”
In an interview on Tuesday, Higgins, who has a background in law enforcement and the military and recently manhandled a liberal protester outside the Capitol, said the phrase “perimeter probe” describes a scheme to provoke a reaction from an opponent, revealing their strengths and weaknesses.
“So the point was that I was talking to people that would understand that language to say, ‘Calm down. Don’t go to Miami,’” Higgins said, referring to the location of Trump’s arraignment on Tuesday, where Trump supporters staged a small protest.
The phrase “1/50k” is a reference to military-scale maps and “know your bridges” is a somewhat ominous reference to knowing key travel routes nearby. Higgins said he used military-sounding rhetoric to get the attention of military-minded people and validate their feelings — not so that they would do something, but so they wouldn’t. At least not yet.
“If you’re trying to communicate to veterans and say, you know, ’Calm down, yes, this oppression is happening – we recognize that but we’re fighting within the parameters of the Constitution, legally and peacefully. Don’t respond to this perimeter probe. Don’t load up with your friends and go drive down to Miami to surround the court. Don’t do stuff like that.’”
The tweet received wide attention, prompting Higgins to post a longer statement on his House website Sunday that was far less cryptic, saying the Justice Department wants to imprison Trump supporters who violently protest.
“They want J6 again, in Miami and in your city and in mine. They want MAGA conservatives to react to this perimeter probe and in doing so, set yourselves up for targeted persecution and further entrapment,” Higgins wrote. “They want to intercept a busload of conservatives en route to protest and create conflicts during the stop. They are hoping to provoke conservative Americans. Don’t fall for the trap. Maintain your family. Live your life. Live free and pay close attention and make your voice heard, yes… but don’t become an incarcerated pawn in the agenda driven DOJ/FBI strategy to oppress conservatives across America.”
The idea that the Justice Department persecutes Trump and his supporters is an article of faith among Republicans on Capitol Hill, many of whom have echoed the conspiracy theory that federal agents orchestrated the riot at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
Higgins suggested that the military and conspiratorial jargon — the word “rPOTUS” being short for “real president of the United States,” terminology that ignores the fact that Joe Biden is the real president — helped his message reach a far wider audience.
“The message was designed to sort of pierce the veil of the mainstream media and penetrate into the citizenry that might be prodded to overreact,” he said.
More than 1,000 Trump supporters have been charged with federal crimes for their involvement in the 2021 attack on the Capitol, so it’s possible the citizens most susceptible to overreacting to Trump’s indictment have already been arrested. Trump’s court appearance passed on Tuesday without a major disturbance.
Biggs, for his part, also said during a radio interview on Tuesday that he wanted people to remain peaceful, not necessarily because it’s the right thing to do, but because violence would not be strategic.
“You got to be peaceful,” Biggs said. “I don’t want anything to distract from the injustice that’s going on.”