Gee, Wish We Knew Who Was Responsible For All This Escalating Political Violence!
Gee, Wish We Knew Who Was Responsible For All This Escalating Political Violence!
Yeah, this is not a 'both sides' situation.
Susan Collins is concerned again.
Someone smashed a storm window outside the Republican senator's home in Bangor, Maine. That's awful, but she's hardly alone as a target for political violence. A man turned up at Democratic Rep. Pramila Jayapal's Seattle home with a semiautomatic weapon and shouted profane threats. In Queens, a man who had traveled across the country waited in a cafe across the street from Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s office so he could confront her. Ocasio-Cortez endures ongoing threats and harassment, and not just from her Republican colleagues. Ocasio-Cortez has to spend thousands on security and her staff has to conduct risk assessments on staff visitors. It's gotten so bad she can't even sleep in the same location consistently.
Members of Congress in both parties are experiencing a surge in threats and confrontations as a rise in violent political speech has increasingly crossed over into the realm of in-person intimidation and physical altercation. In the months since the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, which brought lawmakers and the vice president within feet of rioters threatening their lives, Republicans and Democrats have faced stalking, armed visits to their homes, vandalism and assaults.
It is part of a chilling trend that many fear is only intensifying as lawmakers scatter to campaign and meet with voters around the country ahead of next month’s midterm congressional elections.
Sounding every bipartisan alarm, Collins declared, “I wouldn’t be surprised if a senator or House member were killed ... What started with abusive phone calls is now translating into active threats of violence and real violence.”
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Collins doesn't specifically call out the Republican Party, which has become an anti-democratic cult of personality that has no problem promoting violence to achieve its ends. Some Republicans reportedly claimed that they (baselessly) voted to overturn the 2020 presidential election results, despite no actual evidence of fraud, because they literally feared for their lives. Collins's own Senate colleague Lindsey Graham predicted "riots in the streets" if Donald Trump is held accountable for any of his many obvious crimes. Trump hasrepeatedly warned (not even that subtly) that violence could occur if charges are pursued against him. The twice-impeached thug regularly promotes stochastic terrorism at his ongoing hate rallies. He just declared that Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has a "death wish" because he was defying Trump's wishes.
There is no relevant parallel to this among Democrats, and no, people peacefully protesting outside a Supreme Court justice's house doesn't count.
The Times directly connects the escalating threats of violence to Trump's first campaign and horrific presidency.
In the five years after President Donald J. Trump was elected in 2016 following a campaign featuring a remarkable level of violent language , the number of recorded threats against members of Congress increased more than tenfold, to 9,625 in 2021, according to figures from the Capitol Police, the federal law enforcement department that protects Congress. In the first quarter of 2022, the latest period for which figures were available, the force opened 1,820 cases. If recent history is any guide, the pace is likely to surge in the coming weeks as the election approaches.
Ocasio-Cortez receives more violent threats each day than House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Rep. Ilhan Omar. Republican leader Kevin McCarthy has nonetheless "joked" about striking the 82-year-old Pelosi, and Republicans actively demonize Omar.
However, Republicans, who have no scruple about lying, insist they are the persecuted ones. Michigan GOP gubernatorial nominee Tudor Dixon has claimed that Joe Biden simply reminding voters about her awful policy positions is stoking violence against her. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene makes up fascist fairy tales about Democrats murdering Republicans because of their political beliefs.
In other words, when a MAGA cretin kills an elected Democrat, Republicans are preparing to argue that it's self-defense.
[ New York Times ]
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