Social media users were confused by a tweet posted by Rep. Clay Higgins (R-La.) in response to the news of Donald Trump’s indictment. And they were confused, and in some cases concerned for good reasons, Raw Story reports. One military expert believes the tweet is a call to arms.

Higgins’ message, sent Thursday, is cryptic and he sent it after Trump confirmed he had been indicted in the Mar-a-Lago classified documents case. But to award-winning journalist and author Jeff Sharlot, the message was a violent threat.

“President Trump said he has ‘been summoned to appear at the Federal Courthouse in Miami on Tuesday, at 3 PM,” Higgins tweeted. “This is a perimeter probe from the oppressors. Hold. rPOTUS has this. Buckle up. 1/50K know your bridges. Rock steady calm. That is all.”

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.

Buckle up. 1/50K know your bridges. Rock steady calm. That is all.

— Rep. Clay Higgins (@RepClayHiggins) June 9, 2023

Frankly, this reminds me of the time when then-president Trump told white supremacist groups to “Stand back and stand by,” during the summer of 2020 when some of these groups were acting out violently.

Higgins’s tweet left Sharlet quite worried. His latest book, The Undertow: Scenes from a Slow Civil War, is a detailed investigation into far-right extremists, and he warns that the Louisiana Republican may be calling for an insurgency.

“Deep scary: 1/50 k refers to military scale maps & publicly available US Geological Survey maps of areas mostly surrounding military installations,” Sharlet said. “This isn’t a metaphor. This isn’t slow civil war. This is a Congressman calling for the real thing.

“I think this is scary as hell.”

RTing this already because just in time for the news I appear to be getting smothered by the algorithm again. And I think this is scary as hell. https://t.co/Bfmw8psz9y

— THE UNDERTOW, by Jeff Sharlet (@JeffSharlet) June 9, 2023

And Higgins really does sound like a scary dude.

He’s a former police officer who claims he holds an “active commission” in law enforcement. Last month he was caught on video manhandling an activist who questioned him about his ties to right-wing extremists. This charmer (sarcasm, folks) resigned from one police department in 2007 before he could be disciplined for using unnecessary force by slapping a Black man while on duty.

Then he gained notoriety by posting viral videos where he is seen wearing a police uniform and threatening alleged criminals with violence and calling them “animals” and “heathens.”

This is one seriously creepy man, who has even spoken at events held by mostly white militias, including the Oath Keepers. He’s also sold T-shirts at political events. The shirts bear the logo of the anti-government III Percent Militia while threatening to shoot members of a Black militia group that participated in Black Lives Matter marches in 2020.

“If you’re laughing at Rep Clay Higgins using militia speak, referencing military grade maps, & telling Trumpers to ‘know your bridges,’ recall that Canadian far rightists held border bridges recently in a tense stand off,” Sharlet cautioned. “This is on the table.”

If you’re laughing at Rep Clay Higgins using militia speak, referencing military grade maps, & telling Trumpers to “know your bridges,” recall that Canadian far rightists held border bridges recently in a tense stand off. This is on the table.

— THE UNDERTOW, by Jeff Sharlet (@JeffSharlet) June 9, 2023

Sharlet defined the phrases peppered throughout Higgins’s tweet and determined the congressman was calling for a “county-level insurrection” in response to Trump’s federal indictment, which Higgins described as an act of war.

“Take this seriously,” the noted author said. “‘Perimeter probe’: Higgins thinks indictment precedes bigger attack. ‘rPOTUS,’ real POTUS,’ Trump. ‘Hold’: stand back & stand by.’ ‘Buckle up’: prepare for war. ‘1/50 k’: military scale maps. ‘Know your bridges’: militia speak for prepare to seize bridges.”

Take this seriously. “Perimeter probe”: Higgins thinks indictment precedes bigger attack. “rPOTUS”: “real POTUS,” Trump. “Hold”: “stand back & stand by.” “Buckle up”: prepare for war. “1/50 k”: military scale maps. “Know your bridges”: militia speak for prepare to seize bridges. pic.twitter.com/8wMLQ0AvHA

— THE UNDERTOW, by Jeff Sharlet (@JeffSharlet) June 9, 2023

You’d think people like Higgins would realize that the January 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol didn’t go well, but perhaps there are a few more creeps out there with more tricks up their sleeves.

This is what Donald Trump has wrought. He has awakened the people who would love to see nothing more than martial law in the U.S. These people do not want to recognize the civil rights of Black people or any other group they hope to go against. What’s even worse is they are doing all this for a man who considers them beneath him, who thinks of them as “poor white trash” and little else.