Washed Up 45 Dog Whistles In Waco, Texas!

Washed Up 45 holds a rally in Waco. The deadly siege at the David Koresch compound happened 30 years ago.

The former president decides to hold a rally in a city on the anniversary of a deadly incident.

Washed Up 45 picking Waco, Texas, for the first rally of his 2024 campaign Saturday will put him in the middle of a big Republican state that has reliably delivered him big crowds.

It will also put him not far from the grassy prairie where a standoff in 1993 between U.S. law enforcement and Branch Davidians infamously resulted in the deaths of more than 80 members of the religious cult and four federal agents.

This year marks the 30th anniversary of the siege, which continues to hold deep symbolism and is still viewed by survivors of the compound as an act of unwarranted government intrusion.

Washed Up 45, who is facing the possibility of becoming the first president in U.S. history to be indicted, hasn’t nodded to Waco’s past since first announcing the rally last week. Campaign spokesman Steven Cheung said the decision to hold the event at Waco’s regional airport was ideal because the city was “centrally located and close” to some of Texas’ largest cities.

Washed Up 45 amping up violent rhetoric.

The Houston Chronicle’s editorial board accused Washed Up 45 of “stoking the fires of Waco” in a column published this week.

But there is no doubt the former president picked solidly Republican territory in Waco, where he won surrounding McClennan County by more than 20 points in 2020. The city includes Baylor University, the nation’s largest Baptist university, and is the headquarters of “Fixer Upper” stars Chip and Joanna Gaines’ home decorating empire.

City officials said this week they were ready for the rally.

“It’s a lot of eyes, national attention,” said Jonathan Cook, Waco’s director of parks and recreation.

The Waco standoff was a notable event. For some far-right extremists and militia groups, the siege has become a touchstone over the decades, most notably the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing that happened on the same day two years after the raid. A Virginia man charged with joining the mob that stormed the U.S. Capitol allegedly told an undercover agent that his property could turn into “Waco 2.0” while expressing concerns over new firearm regulations, according to a federal court filing.

The Waco siege, also known as the Waco massacre, was the law enforcement siege of the compound that belonged to the religious cult Branch Davidians. It was carried out by the U.S. federal government and Texas state law enforcement between February 28 and April 19, 1993. The Branch Davidians were led by David Koresh and were headquartered at Mount Carmel Center ranch in the community of Axtell, Texas, 13 miles (21 kilometers) northeast of Waco. Suspecting the group of stockpiling illegal weapons, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF) obtained a search warrant for the compound and arrest warrants for Koresh as well as a select few of the group's members.