Ex-FBI Boss’ ’86’ Post Ignites MAGA Fury — But Both Sides Have Used ‘Threat’ Before
MAGA lit up former FBI director James Comey on Thursday over an Instagram post reading “86 47” – a code they say is a veiled call to “kill” President Donald Trump – but use of the cryptic message goes way back, with Trump supporters using it too.
Comey’s image showed beach shells arranged to read “86” and “47,” numbers some have interpreted as call to assassinate the 47th president – given the slang use of “86” to mean eliminate. He captioned it: “Cool shell formation on my beach walk.”
As furious backlash poured out on the right, Comey deleted the post and denied any ill intent, claiming he didn’t realize how the post might be construed. Trump wasn’t buying it, having been the target of two assassination attempts in the past year, and blasted the post speaking with Fox News’ Bret Baier as a “clear” call “for assassination of the president.”
One of the prominent pro-Trump voices protesting Comey was Jack Posobiec:
But liberals came with receipts, dredging up a 2022 tweet in which Posobiec wrote simply “86 46” – while former President Joe Biden was serving as the 46th president.
(Screengrab via X)
In fact, throughout Biden’s term MAGA-aligned outlets and online stores sold all sorts of merchandise, from T-shirts to bottle openers, with the code emblazoned on them.
Dip back a bit further into history, and some Democrats were using the very same code against Trump during his first term.
Among them was Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D-MI), who came under criticism in October 2020 over a pin reading “86 45” visible in the background during an interview on NBC’s Meet The Press.
(Screengrab via X)
The message was interpreted as a nefarious call to oust or harm Trump but, at the time, Whitmer’s team dismissed it as a political expression calling for Trump’s removal from office, not a threat. Based on the fact Whitmer had the pin, liberals were peddling “86” merch too!
Former Florida congressman Matt Gaetz, who almost became Trump’s attorney general this year, also invoked “86” language in 2024 in regard to colleagues in his own party.
“We’ve now 86’d: McCarthy, McDaniel, McConnell,” he posted as he celebrated GOP leadership shake-ups.
The multi-polar meaning of “86” is partly what is to blame, leaving interpretation in the hands of the reader.
In the restaurant business, the term might be used to “refuse to serve” or “throw out” a customer, for example. Or a waiter or waitress might unforgivably “86” the pickle in a burger or “86” an item from the menu when ingredients run out.
Others say the term derives from the military, referring to faulty equipment that needs to be scrapped or calling to abort a mission.
The Merriam-Webster dictionary notes the term’s established use in military jargon for killed in action, and even cites that case use in a New York Times article from 1991.
The outrage over Comey’s beach shells may be burning bright in MAGA media right now, but the history of “86” as a political symbol is far from one-sided. From Democrats to MAGA, the number has long served as a loaded – but elastic – bit of coded protest.
With its meaning shaped as much by intent as by interpretation, the “86” debate arguably says as much about who’s watching and what they want to see as who posted it.
