By choosing Waco, Texas, as the setting for what he calls the first rally of his 2024 campaign, former President Donald Trump has raised a few eyebrows.
This year marks the 30th anniversary of the 51-day standoff between federal agencies and members of the Branch Davidian sect who holed up in their heavily armed compound, apparently convinced by leader David Koresh that the apocalypse was at their door. The compound exploded on April 19, 1993, killing 76 people, including two dozen children, bringing the total death toll in the incident to 86.
This week, one of the group’s pastors, Charles Pace, told multiple outlets that he believes Trump’s choice to demonstrate in Waco was definitely “a statement” as the former president faces possible criminal charges.
Branch Davidians still exist today. They were founded as an offshoot of Seventh-day Adventists long before Koresh came on the scene and convinced followers that he was their prophet.
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Trump “is making a statement, I think, by coming into these lands where the government, the FBI, has laid siege to this community like they laid siege to Mar-a-Lago and come in and take things. That’s what they wanted to do here, they wanted to come and get weapons and everything,” Pace he told Texas Tribune reporter Robert Downen.
Pace made similar comments to The New York Times, saying the FBI “maintains [Trump] of different things that aren’t really true, just like David Koresh was accused by the FBI.”
The Times noted that Pace spoke well of Trump in his sermons, calling him “God’s anointed.”
Trump did not mention the events at Waco itself; a spokesperson told multiple news outlets that the city is simply “centrally located to all four of the largest metropolitan areas in Texas.”
“He doesn’t come right out and say, ‘I’m doing this because I want you to know that what happened there is wrong,’ but he suggests,” Pace. She said to Trump.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg is considering criminal charges against Trump related to secret payments made to an adult film star in the run-up to the 2016 presidential election. Other investigations, including a federal probe into the handling of secret government documents that they sped up The Mar-a-Lago raid is also underway.
Trump recently said his arrest was imminent and criticized law enforcement on Truth Social, his social media platform, warning on Friday that his arrest would bring “potential death and destruction.” Earlier, he called on supporters to “PROTEST, YOU’RE DOWNING OUR NATION!”
Anti-government extremists were immediately drawn to Waco at the time of the conflict. Timothy McVeigh went to watch the events unfold and later chose April 19, 1995 to carry out his deadly attack on Oklahoma City.
On the far right, particularly among gun control opponents, the incident is still seen as a prime example of government overreach, beginning with the February 28, 1993 execution of a search warrant by ATF agents who suspected Davidian affiliates of being illegal. by modifying a huge stockpile of high-powered weapons.
Mary Trump, the former president’s niece, tweeted on Friday that her uncle’s choice of location was “a trick.”
He added: “He wants the same violent mayhem to save him from justice.”
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