by WorldTribune Staff, May 21, 2017
From death threats and physical confrontations to vandalizing their offices and frightening their children at their homes, Republican lawmakers increasingly fear for their safety amid an onslaught of leftist hate.
“In the last few weeks alone, the FBI arrested a man threatening (Arizona) Rep. Martha McSally’s, a woman pursued (Tennessee) Rep. David Kustoff in her car, and (Virginia) Rep. Tom Garrett heightened security at a town hall event in response to death threats,” The Hill said in a May 21 report.
In Tuscson, Arizona, the FBI arrested a man who left three threatening messages on McSally’s congressional office voicemail, in which he allegedly said her days “were numbered” and threatened to shoot her. A criminal complaint filed last week in the U.S. District Court in Tucson said the suspect told agents he was upset over McSally’s votes to back up Trump, the Hill report said.
In Tennessee, a woman angry over Kustoff’s vote for the GOP’s healthcare bill pursued a car carrying him from an event at a local university. Kustoff and a staffer eventually turned into a driveway and came to a stop. Then the woman approached the car, yelled at Kustoff and struck the car’s windows, according to local reports.
Meanwhile, Garrett spokesman Andrew Griffin said the Republican lawmaker has received at least three death threats over the course of the healthcare debate, the Hill report said.
One constituent called Garrett’s Washington office and said if his healthcare is taken away, he would take Garrett’s life away. Another person sent a message to Garrett’s campaign Facebook page with graphic details describing how they would kill Garrett.
Griffin said investigating authorities have asked not to publicly reveal any details about the third case yet.
Garrett increased security at his town hall in Moneta, Virginia last week.
Nebraska Rep. Jeff Fortenberry said the he wasn’t home when his young daughter found a sign on the family’s lawn last week that read: “Traitors put party above country Do the right thing for once, shithead.”
“Attack me, protest against me, but do not frighten my children at their home,” Fortenberry said in an interview with Fox News’s Neil Cavuto.
“If we are going to be a true civil society that actually upholds the values of liberty and free speech, which means respect for differences and trying to work that out through the ballot box if necessary, but also through rational conversation,” Fontenberry said.
Florida Rep. Ted Yoho described protesters vandalizing his Gainesville office and threatening his staff. One female constituent left a message on the office answering machine for the district director, saying, “Next time I see you, I’m going to beat your f—ing ass.”
He decided to only allow visitors into the Gainesville office who have an appointment after protesters kept showing up every week in the front lobby. The protesters subsequently complained that their representative was trying to block their access, but Yoho felt he had no other choice.
“They’re mad to the point where they’re cussing at my staff, pushed one of them, poured stuff on one of the staff’s car,” Yoho told The Hill. “If they start acting responsible and respectable, we’ll do the same.”
Rep. Dave Brat of Virginia said attendees at a recent town hall in his district booed him after he said people’s rights are God-given.
“They booed God. They booed the pastor. They booed the prayer. They booed the name of the church. They booed when I said rights come from God,” Brat told The Hill. “That’s a fundamental tenet of western civilization. I mean, I didn’t think that was partisan.”
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