Historian Ruth Ben-Ghiat Says Trump Picked Waco Because It’s ‘Holy Site for Racist Extremists’ and He’s ‘Prepared To Do Violence’

Historian Ruth Ben-Ghiat Says Trump Picked Waco Because It’s ‘Holy Site for Racist Extremists’ and He’s ‘Prepared To Do Violence’

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Historian and author Ruth Ben-Ghiat told radio host Dean Obeidallah that Donald Trump chose Waco, Texas for his Saturday rally because it’s a “holy site” for anti-government and White power extremism, and so he could “channel” the cult leader aspects of the city.

On Friday’s edition of The Dean Obeidallah Show, the host asked the “Strongmen: Mussolini To The Present” author about Trump’s selection of Waco for his first rally of the 2024 presidential campaign.

Ben-Ghiat brought up the city’s history and infamy as the site of the deadly siege on the Branch-Davidian compound under cult leader David Koresh, as well as it having been a “White power gathering area” even before the standoff.

“Waco kind of birthed the modern militia movement and anti-government extremists,” she said. “So it’s a pilgrimage site. It’s actually it’s like like Predappio in Italy for Mussolini. Like Waco is one of these holy sites for, you know, racist extremists and who are now, you know, quite absorbed by the many of them absorbed by the GOP.”

Host Obeidallah discussed the topic on MSNBC this weekend, saying the selection of Waco was not “a dog whistle” but a “train whistle to anti-government actors.”

RUTH BEN-GHIAT: I mean, he couldn’t be clearer about, you know, him as a cult leader going to Waco, where you had somebody who, you know, demanded to be treated as a God and and, you know, staged a whole siege with federal government authorities. And so Trump is you know, he’s he’s always communicating very clearly who he is. Right. And so here he’s he’s he’s the victim. He’s under siege. And he’s prepared to to do violence. He’s inciting violence again. But the cult leader part, I mean, that’s what he’s really channeling here, by going to the place that’s the one of the most famous sites, not only then because of the standoff, but it it was already a White power gathering area. And then it kind of, Waco kind of birthed the modern militia movement and anti-government extremists. And so it’s a pilgrimage site. It’s actually it’s like like Predappio in Italy for Mussolini. Like Waco is one of these holy sites for, you know, racist extremists and who are now, you know, quite absorbed by the many of them absorbed by the GOP. So it’s quite a message he’s sending as a cult leader and somebody inciting violence.

Watch above via The Dean Obeidallah Show on SiriusXM.

The post Historian Ruth Ben-Ghiat Says Trump Picked Waco Because It’s ‘Holy Site for Racist Extremists’ and He’s ‘Prepared To Do Violence’ first appeared on Mediaite.