Federal investigators swarmed the National Mall Thursday after a massive “86 47” marking appeared etched into the grass near the World War II Memorial.
U.S. Park Police and members of the National Guard responded to the scene, collecting grass samples for testing. The numerals — visible only from height, such as the top of the Washington Monument — showed the numbers 8, 6, and 7 clearly; the 4 was not fully defined. How the markings were made remains unknown.
“Deranged vandalism,” an Interior Department spokesperson called it, vowing to “hold those responsible accountable.”
“Anyone who engages in or endorses political violence or assassination culture must be condemned in the harshest terms possible,” White House spokesperson Davis Ingle wrote in a statement shared by the Washington Post. “They should also immediately seek psychiatric help to treat their severe and debilitating case of Trump Derangement Syndrome that has warped their brains and made them sick in the head.”
The slogan combines “86” — restaurant-industry slang dating to the 1930s meaning to expel or get rid of something — with “47,” a reference to President Donald Trump as the nation’s 47th president. Trump has argued the combination means something darker. “‘It’s a mob term for ‘kill him,’” he told reporters. “‘They say, ’86 the son of a gun.’”
The phrase is at the center of the federal case against former FBI Director James Comey, indicted after posting a photo of seashells arranged into “86 47” on social media. Comey deleted the post, saying he “didn’t realize some folks associate those numbers with violence.” His trial is scheduled for October.
In a separate civil case, U.S. District Judge Randolph Moss of the District of Columbia ruled earlier this month that the slogan is protected speech, finding it “merely advocated for the President’s impeachment and removal from office…”
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