Rep. Clay Higgins (R-LA) raised many eyebrows on Thursday night with a cryptic tweet in the wake of former President Donald Trump’s federal indictment. Higgin’s tweet confused many journalists and observers unfamiliar with the language he used, but Jeff Sharlet, a bestselling author and expert on right-wing militias, explained the meaning and called the tweet “deep scary.”
“President Trump said he has ‘been summoned to appear at the Federal Courthouse in Miami on Tuesday, at 3 PM.’ This is a perimeter probe from the oppressors. Hold. rPOTUS has this,” Higgins wrote, adding:
Buckle up. 1/50K know your bridges. Rock steady calm. That is all.
Aaron Blake of the Washington Post replied, “‘rPOTUS’ = ‘real POTUS,’ I assume.” While Punchbowl’s Jake Sherman added, “i still have no idea what this means.”
"rPOTUS" = "real POTUS," I assume. https://t.co/aGDse3HI5h
— Aaron Blake (@AaronBlake) June 9, 2023
i still have no idea what this means. https://t.co/kZRVSSXT6C
— Jake Sherman (@JakeSherman) June 9, 2023
Will Sommer commented, “Any ideas on what “1/50k know your bridges” means, besides literally knowing your local bridges? Not something I’ve encountered before.”
Any ideas on what “1/50k know your bridges” means, besides literally knowing your local bridges? Not something I’ve encountered before. https://t.co/YdLk13w5Tp
— Will Sommer (@willsommer) June 9, 2023
Sharlet, who penned the New York Times bestselling book “The Undertow: Scenes From a Slow Civil War,” was quick to explain:
Deep scary: 1/50 k refers to military scale maps & publicly available US Geological Survey maps of areas mostly surrounding military installations. This isn’t a metaphor. This isn’t slow civil war. This is a congressman calling for the real thing.
Deep scary: 1/50 k refers to military scale maps & publicly available US Geological Survey maps of areas mostly surrounding military installations. This isn’t a metaphor. This isn’t slow civil war. This is a congressman calling for the real thing. pic.twitter.com/HvAfn8yT4z
— THE UNDERTOW, by Jeff Sharlet (@JeffSharlet) June 9, 2023
Sharlet answered some of the specific questions regarding Higgin’s message to his followers. “Prepare for war. ‘Know your bridges’ is militia speak for closing them down. County level insurrection,” Sharlet noted, interpreting “Buckle up” as code for “prepare for war.”
Below are some additional responses to Higgins:
Openly pining for Civil War 2—“1/50k” is a reference to military maps, and he adds a tactical reference to targeting bridges—is more concerning when it’s coming from a sitting member of Congress rather than some media figure or social media influencer trying to attract attention. https://t.co/rL4oWG1wDM
— Nicholas Grossman (@NGrossman81) June 9, 2023
We just doing the sedition on Twitter now, Clay? https://t.co/ieeC1JClxN
— Max Burns (@themaxburns) June 9, 2023
Totally normal congressional tweet https://t.co/1xbSB6P5qw
— Molly Jong-fast (@MollyJongFast) June 9, 2023
A sitting member of congress… https://t.co/hmuoPgA5jX
— Rex Chapman🏇🏼 (@RexChapman) June 9, 2023
Ummm. What? https://t.co/YhU4SwVLF6
— David French (@DavidAFrench) June 9, 2023
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