Donald Trump’s weekend Truth Social post urging a military tribunal for Barack Obama barely caused a ripple in the news cycle—but only because we’ve been here before.
The former president once again amplified a conspiracy-laced call for Obama to face a military court, echoing QAnon rhetoric and inciting his most extreme followers, some of whom responded with open calls for violence.
From any other president, it would be front-page news, but Sunday’s Truth Social post from Trump suggesting Obama should be tried before a military tribunal is not that surprising. In fact, Trump has proposed it before.
Trump reshared a post, originally from the user @SpiritualStreetfighter, that featured an image of Trump sitting next to then-President Barack Obama in the Oval Office following the 2016 election.
The image was captioned: “ALL ROADS LEAD TO OBAMA… RETRUTH IF YOU WANT PUBLIC MILITARY TRIBUNALS.”
For what crime, he did not say.
But MAGA followers were quick to fill in the blank, although coherence was not a priority.
“He spied on a opposing political campaign,” wrote one. “For the first time in our country’s history, there was not a peaceful transfer of power. He tried to frame the president as a treasonous Russian actor. NEVER forget what this scumbag did.”
Well, he didn’t do any of those things, old accusations that remain part of the MAGA scrapbook of grievances.
Others went straight to the racism.
“We know only too well what that black treasonous f*lth did to all Americans and to this country,” declared one Trump fan.
“Nah, just the hangings, please,” wrote another, asking for a visit from the Secret Service.
“only if they bring back the hangman’s noose and install guillotines in every town square,” echoed another.
Trump’s weekend reposting spree featured a series of AI-generated QAnon conspiracy theories, according to Raw Story, including one of him draped in flag captioned, “We are taking back our great country.
QAnon is a conspiracy theory dating back to anonymous online message board posts from a person claiming to hold “Q” level security clearance. It alleges public figures, usually Democrats like Obama and Hillary Clinton and left-leaning celebrities like Tom Hanks operate a Satanic child-trafficking cannibal ring.
“This Obama fixation is really creepy,” wrote one reader on X.
Noted another, “President Trump has once again shared a post on Truth Social, declaring that ‘all roads lead to Obama’ and inviting the public to weigh in on the idea of public military tribunals.”
“He originally shared the same message ahead of the last election, and now it appears he’s preparing to take bold action as he turns to the American people for their input,” the X user wrote. “Do people truly want public military tribunals?”
“It’s a distraction tool,” wrote one observer on X. “He’s just playing the hits.”
Military tribunals are generally not used for ex-presidents. They have traditionally been reserved for service members accused of serious crimes, suspected terrorists or civilians who allegedly commit crimes that compromise national security.
