Rick Wilson: ‘Sorry, MAGA, But If the Jackboot Fits, Wear It’
(AP Photo/Rick Scuteri)
Former President Donald Trump and his supporters are rallying around a controversial narrative, blaming Vice President Kamala Harris and her supporters for two alleged assassination plots against Trump. They claim that criticism of his character, labeling him as dangerous for democracy, is to blame for the threats. Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL) has even gone as far as demanding Harris remove all references to Project 2025 from ads in swing states for Trump’s safety.
In a sharp rebuke, Rick Wilson, co-founder of The Lincoln Project and a former Republican strategist, called these claims “complete nonsense” in a post on his Substack. Wilson urged Democrats to dismiss the demands.
“The emerging MAGA conflation that every criticism of Donald Trump is a call for his assassination is a logical, moral, and political fallacy of the most sublimely stupid nature,” Wilson wrote. He called it “a false equivalence so profoundly wrong in every dimension that only the people with a political death wish (and, perhaps, the American media) could buy it.”
Wilson didn’t hold back in his criticism of Trump, describing him as “a pendant authoritarian, a convicted criminal, an enabler of the worst and most dangerous elements of our body politic.” He added, “Sorry, MAGA, but if the jackboot fits, wear it: he is an authoritarian, a statist, a racist, an aspiring fascist, a hateful, mendacious, corrupt traitor, a fool, mentally ill, and frankly evil.”
Wilson pointed out that Harris has never called for violence against Trump, in stark contrast to the former president’s history of inciting violence against his critics. “Trump has regularly called for using state and supporter power against critics,” Wilson wrote, referencing events like Trump’s call to shoot peaceful protesters in Lafayette Square Park and his infamous remarks about “Second Amendment people” targeting Hillary Clinton.
Wilson also highlighted Trump’s involvement in spreading baseless attacks on legal Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, alongside allies like Sen. J.D. Vance. He criticized the rhetoric as a precursor to violence. In his closing remarks, Wilson directly addressed the demands from Trump’s supporters: “You demand our silence. I refuse.”
He further emphasized, “You threaten us, dox us, SWAT us, call us criminals, communists, pedophiles, and murderers, and demand we meekly accept your lies and slanders… And once more with feeling, I absolutely refuse.” Wilson’s firm rejection of the narrative underscores the ongoing tensions between Trump and his critics, with claims of incitement and violence adding fuel to the political fire.
