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Feeling Betrayed, Far-Right Extremists Have A New Message For Trump: 'Get Out Of Our Way'

 (ILLUSTRATION: REBECCA ZISSER/HUFFPOST)
(ILLUSTRATION: REBECCA ZISSER/HUFFPOST)

For months, President Donald Trump’s message to his supporters was clear: The election was being stolen from him, and they needed to fight to take it back.

So on Jan. 6, during a Trump-promoted rally to “Stop the Steal,” thousands laid siege to the U.S. Capitol in a stunning attempt to do just that. The fallout of their failed insurrection, which resulted in five deaths, was swift: Trump was deplatformed from nearly every major social network and, on Wednesday, impeached for a historic second time.

When he emerged on camera a short while later, tail tucked between his legs, to condemn the rioters whom he himself had incited, and to call for a peaceful transfer of power to President-elect Joe Biden, his base felt betrayed.

“So he basically just sold out the patriots who got rounded up for him,” one person wrote in a 15,000-member pro-Trump Telegram group. “Just wow.”

In online havens for MAGA extremists, including Gab, CloutHub, MeWe, Telegram and far-right message boards such as 8kun, the tone toward Trump is shifting. HuffPost reviewed thousands of messages across these platforms and found that a growing minority of the president’s once-devout backers are now denouncing him and rejecting his recent pleas for peace. Some have called for his arrest or execution, labeling him a “traitor” and a “coward.” Alarmingly, many of those who are irate about Biden’s supposed electoral theft are still plotting to forcibly prevent him from taking office — with or without Trump’s help.

“We don’t follow you,” another Telegram user wrote, addressing Trump, after the president put out his video urging calm and order. “Be quiet and get out of our way.”

It has become apparent that now — after his mass radicalization campaign of voter-fraud disinformation and conspiracy-mongering — even Trump can’t stop the dangerous delusion he’s instilled across the country, or the next wave of violence it may soon bring.

In online fringe communities, some far-right Trump supporters are plotting to keep him in power by any means necessary. (Telegram)
In online fringe communities, some far-right Trump supporters are plotting to keep him in power by any means necessary. (Telegram)

Federal authorities are...

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