Skip to main content

The context you need, when you need it

When news breaks, you need to understand what actually matters — and what to do about it. At Vox, our mission to help you make sense of the world has never been more vital. But we can’t do it on our own.

We rely on readers like you to fund our journalism. Will you support our work and become a Vox Member today?

Join now

Trump rally crowd chants “lock her up” as Trump ignores Manafort and Cohen

That’s 2018 in a nutshell.

President Donald Trump’s supporters chant “lock her up” while ignoring that Michael Cohen and Paul Manafort face prison time.
President Donald Trump’s supporters chant “lock her up” while ignoring that Michael Cohen and Paul Manafort face prison time.
President Donald Trump’s supporters chant “lock her up” while ignoring that Michael Cohen and Paul Manafort face prison time.
Spencer Platt/Getty Images

Supporters of President Donald Trump attending his political rally in West Virginia on Tuesday chanted “lock her up” at the first mention of Hillary Clinton.

That, to put it mildly, is incredibly rich with irony today.

About three hours before the evening rally, Trump’s longtime fixer and personal lawyer Michael Cohen pleaded guilty to eight felony counts. That’s not all: A Virginia court convicted Trump’s former campaign chair Paul Manafort of eight felony counts, including tax fraud, bank fraud, and hiding a foreign bank account.

Cohen and Manafort are likely soon headed to prison — in other words, they will actually be locked up. Cohen also implicated Trump in breaking campaign finance laws, saying he coordinated with a candidate for office (Trump) when he made a $130,000 hush money payment to Stormy Daniels, who had claimed she had an affair with Trump, during the 2016 presidential campaign.

But that didn’t matter to the Trump-friendly crowd in Charleston. When Republican Senate candidate Patrick Morrisey spoke after the president welcomed him on stage, he quickly mentioned Clinton and how she once said, “We’re going to put a lot of coal miners and coal companies out of business.”

The crowd then erupted in chants of “lock her up.” There were also some who joined in with a “drain the swamp” chant of their own.

It’s quite the irony: rally-goers hoping someone they don’t like goes to jail, while seemingly missing that someone they admire surrounded himself with criminals — many of whom are very swampy themselves.

That, perhaps, is one of the greatest symbols of our current political moment.

You can watch the video of the moment below:

More in Politics

The Logoff
Trump’s DOJ wants to undo January 6 convictionsTrump’s DOJ wants to undo January 6 convictions
The Logoff

How the Trump administration is still trying to rewrite January 6 history.

By Cameron Peters
Politics
Donald Trump messed with the wrong popeDonald Trump messed with the wrong pope
Politics

Trump fought with Pope Francis before. He’s finding Pope Leo XIV to be a tougher foil.

By Christian Paz
Podcasts
A cautionary tale about tax cutsA cautionary tale about tax cuts
Podcast
Podcasts

California cut property taxes in the 1970s. It didn’t go so well.

By Miles Bryan and Noel King
Podcasts
Obama’s top Iran negotiator on Trump’s screwupsObama’s top Iran negotiator on Trump’s screwups
Podcast
Podcasts

Wendy Sherman helped Obama reach a deal with Iran. Here’s what she thinks Trump is doing wrong.

By Kelli Wessinger and Noel King
Politics
The Supreme Court could legalize moonshine, and ruin everything elseThe Supreme Court could legalize moonshine, and ruin everything else
Politics

McNutt v. DOJ could allow the justices to seize tremendous power over the US economy.

By Ian Millhiser
The Logoff
The new Hormuz blockade, briefly explainedThe new Hormuz blockade, briefly explained
The Logoff

Trump tries Iran’s playbook.

By Cameron Peters