Former President Donald Trump still controls a MAGA insurrectionist army, according to the assertion amplified in a post by Rachel Maddow. Maddow’s retweet shares an allegation that Taylor Taranto, the 37-year-old man arrested this week near the Washington-area home of former President Barack Obama, appeared to have received the Obama family’s address from a Trump social media post.
If so, the extraordinary, Maddow-amplified implication is that Trump doxxed Obama — revealing actionable personal information that could have endangered the former President. Trump and his followers have faced doxxing allegations in the past. A Washington Post article from 2015 is titled “Trump Just Doxxed Lindsey Graham on Live TV.”
The doxxing is hardly a GOP-only strategy — Democrats do it, too. The National Review published a 2019 story about Trump donors being doxxed by a Congressman, with the donors allegedly being subject to subsequent harassment. Supreme Court justices have also been doxxed, notably after the Dobbs decision to overturn Roe v. Wade.
“… a Trump post that included what is alleged to be the address of Obama’s home in Washington” https://t.co/0QgOuzk2MS
— Rachel Maddow MSNBC (@maddow) June 30, 2023
Trump’s alleged sharing of his predecessor’s home address — and sharing it widely among the same people who stormed the Capitol on his behalf — is an extraordinary act, even measured by the pugilistic political norms of 2023. Maddow quotes an NBC News article for emphasis in her caption, writing: “… a Trump post that included what is alleged to be the address of Obama’s home in Washington.”
Taranto, who was among those who breached the Capitol on January 6 according to video he allegedly posted online himself, was said to be living in a van near the Washington jail at the time of his arrest.
In reporting that appears to show that Taranto was acting directly on Trump’s tip when he approached the Obama residence, NBC News says Taranto reposted Trump’s doxxing post. In other words, he posted proof that he received Trump’s message.
“A Truth Social account that uses the same screen name that Taranto uses on other social media accounts,” NBC says, and Maddow quotes, “re-posted a Trump post that included what is alleged to be the address of Obama’s home in Washington.”
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