Trump’s possible arrest sparks avalanche of jokes, memes

Jokes and memes mocking Donald Trump have flooded the internet in anticipation of his arrest over alleged campaign finance violations ahead of the 2016 presidential elections.

In a post over the weekend on his social media platform Truth Social, Trump said he will be arrested on Tuesday, March 21.

According to media reports, the former president is likely to be indicted as part of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s investigation into alleged hush money payments to adult film star Stormy Daniels before the 2016 election.

While there is no official word or a timeline for his potential indictment or arrest, it is unclear why Trump gave Tuesday as the date of his arrest. Hours after his post, a spokesperson for Trump issued a statement saying Trump did not write his post with any direct knowledge of the time of any arrest.

Some of the jokes circulating on social media, largely from critics of the former president, stem from the idea that Trump would attempt to flee from the police. If the Manhattan district attorney goes through with a criminal indictment, however, the likely scenario—according to Trump’s legal team—is that the former president would surrender.

Some Twitter users compared Trump’s situation to former football star OJ Simpson, who famously went on a car chase with the police in 1994 before he was eventually acquitted over the murders of his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ronald Goldman.

The Twitter page Anonymous Operations shared a photoshopped image of Trump’s plane on the same highway Simpson used to evade police.

Trump plane heading down the runway 👀👀👀(We will not refer to it as trump force one)
NYC or Moscow?
Place your bets pic.twitter.com/029fUlriRj

— Anonymous Operations (@AnonOpsSE) March 20, 2023

Twitter user Lynn shared another photoshopped image, this time showing Trump driving down a highway in a golf cart with police following him.

Founder of the open source investigation website Bellingcat and journalist Eliot Higgins joked that he was making fake pictures of Trump attempting to flee on foot from police.

Sharing some of the pictures, he captioned the Twitter thread: “Making pictures of Trump getting arrested while waiting for Trump’s arrest.”

Illustrator Michael Fleming also shared some images of an AI-generated Donald Trump in clown makeup and outfit being arrested.

The former president urged his supporters to protest over the weekend. In the message predicting his arrest, Trump told his supporters to “protest and take our nation back.”

Some of his supporters have shared their own photoshopped images showing their dedication to Trump and denounced his potential arrest.

@DonaldJTrumpJr IF ANYONE ARREST PRESIDENT TRUMP FOR THESE FOOLISH ACTS I FEEL SORRY FOR YOU. BECAUSE YOU HURT & PUT( OUR) WE THE PEOPLE OF THE USA🇺🇸 P. TRUMP BEHIND BARS .YOU BEST LEAVE THIS COUNTRY BECAUSE GOD GOING TO GET YOU. KARMA COMING & HELLS COMING WITH IT🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/o5G30McJad

— Gina (@GINAangellove) March 21, 2023

New York Police Department officers put up metal barricades outside Bragg’s office on Monday in preparation for protests or demonstrations.

Newsweek has contacted Trump’s office for comment.