A pro-Donald Trump group calling itself the "Lion Guard" (not to be confused with Disney's "Lion King" spinoff of the same name) is using social media to "identify and expose plots to attack Mr. Trump, Trump Supporters, and their rallies before they even can happen."

Lion Guard's Twitter bio describes it as "an informal civilian group dedicated to the safety and security of #Trump supporters by exposing Far-Left infiltrators and saboteurs." The group's name is derived from a variation on the Benito Mussolini quote Trump retweeted in February that appears on the Lion Guard website: "Better to be a lion for a day, than a lamb for eternity."

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A March 15, post titled "Lion Guard is Born" explains that the group was formed after clashes between protesters and Trump supporters forced the cancellation of a Trump rally in Chicago on March 11. The post explains that the group's main objective is "to search out for any Anti-M.A.G.A. [Make America Great Again] social media account that is planning to infiltrate, disrupt, attack, or otherwise do harm to Mr. Trump, any Trump rally, or any Trump supporter."

To that end, the Lion Guard has been trawling social media for posts from would-be protesters who plan to attend a Trump rally in Phoenix on Saturday, then posting the protesters' photos to the Lion Guard Twitter account and instructing followers to inform security if they spot the "saboteurs" at the rally.

The Lion Guard manifesto is careful to avoid any promotion of violence against protesters. While noting that the idea of a pro-Trump paramilitary organization is "not a bad idea," the Lion Guard says such violence would feed into mainstream media's anti-Trump narrative. The group sees its mission as "principally to observe and report these vandals to the proper authorities, not confront them with force."