During the 2016 Presidential Campaign, Candidate Donald Trump, his Make America Great Again (MAGA) marketing staff, his political and legal advisors researched, wrote, pre-produced, cast, directed, produced, filmed, edited, reviewed, revised, refined, approved and broadcast the following TV spot in which a Minuteman vigilante is depicted in a heroic setting while protecting the US border with Mexico. This heavily-vetted TV spot set the tone for the Trump campaign and the Trump Administration by aiding and abetting the concept of unregulated militias patrolling the Southern border with Mexico.

 

The insertion of the domestic terrorist in a pose identical to the Minuteman statue in Lexington, Massachusetts lasts a total of 46 frames, approximately a second and a half. It is cleverly sandwiched between images of the Border Patrol, the National Guard and a US Navy warship, an editing technique designed to deceive the audience into believing that this soldier is a member of the US Armed forces.

 

This deceptive salute or “dog whistle” to supremacist militias validated the concept of operations (CONOPS) of taking lethal action against immigrants along the US-Mexico border and constitutes aiding and abetting of domestic terrorism.