Republicans fearing for their safety as anger, threats mount

The Hill ^ | 5/21/2017

[Altura Ct.]

A growing number of House Republicans are facing physical threats from angry constituents in their districts, leading many to fear for their safety.   In the last few weeks alone, the FBI arrested a man threatening Rep. Martha McSally's (R-Ariz.) life, a woman pursued Rep. David Kustoff (R-Tenn.) in her car, and Rep. Tom Garrett (R-Va.) heightened security at a town hall event in response to death threats. 

Other Republicans still holding town halls say they haven't felt physically threatened by protesters, but they worry about the depth of anger from some constituents in the polarized environment and what it means for political civility.  

Scores of GOP lawmakers have experienced going viral this year with videos of constituents shouting their disagreement on support for President Trump and policies such as the GOP’s healthcare bill. 

Lately, though, Republicans have observed some furious constituents who appear to be going even further. Rep. Dave Brat (R-Va.) described attendees at a town hall in his district last week who booed him down 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 recounted to The Hill just off the House floor. “That’s a fundamental tenet of western civilization. I mean, I didn’t think that was partisan.”

Further north in New Jersey, Rep. Tom MacArthur (R) faced pushback from a crowd when he began telling the story of his special-needs daughter who died at the age of 11.

“Shame!” people shouted. “We’ve heard this story.”  “This child in 11 years has shaped my life more than anybody. So if I talk about my daughter too much, well then so be it. But this is the one human being that has impacted my life more than anybody,” MacArthur said. Another person sarcastically yelled out MacArthur should write a book about it. 

“Maybe I will write a book,” MacArthur shot back.  Still, not every town hall has veered into nastiness. Rep. Mike Coffman (R-Colo.), a top Democratic target in 2018, said his town hall attendees expressed their clear displeasure with his positions but remained civil.   “You know, they had the signs and stuff like that. But I thought they were pretty nice, I thought they were pretty respectful,” Coffman said. 

“From the stories I have heard in other districts, I’ve got it pretty good,” he said.

But an increasing number of lawmakers’ encounters with constituents, even in deep-red districts, have gotten ugly. 

The FBI arrested a Tucson, Ariz. man for leaving 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. 

McSally represents the same swing district previously represented by then-Rep. Gabby Giffords (D), who was shot in the head in 2011 during a constituent meet-and-greet.

In Tennessee, a woman angry over Kustoff’s vote for the GOP's healthcare bill this month 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 freshman lawmaker has received at least three death threats over the course of the healthcare debate.   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. In light of all the threats, Garrett made sure to increase security at his town hall in Moneta, Va. last week. 

A security presence at town halls hasn’t prevented some physical confrontations. A constituent angry over the GOP’s healthcare bill approached Rep. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.), took dollar bills from his wallet and tried to shove them into the lawmaker’s suit pocket, the Bismarck Tribune reported.  

Other times, the lawmakers targeted by the most extreme protesters don’t end up getting the brunt of the hostility. 

Rep. Jeff Fortenberry (R-Neb.) 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.”

Rep. Ted Yoho (R-Fla.) described protesters vandalizing his Gainesville, Fla. 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.” 

Yoho's recent town hall in the same town as his vandalized district office was a calmer affair.

Attendees made it clear at times they didn't agree with him on the issues, but they remained civil.

"We had fun the whole time," he said.

[yoe]

These Town-hall's should be by invitation only...invitees should have to show their drivers license....obvious interrupters are positioning themselves through out the audiences. These aren't constituents who voted for Trump, these are Progressive's probably recruited by Soros or Obama's OFA groups with one thought in mind....disrupt anything about this administration...get Trump no matter if it takes the country down. These non-Americans use fear threaten to intimidate anyone who doesn't think like them....especially a gathering of Congressmen/Senators and their constituents

Call your elected and volunteer to help with ID's at the door.

[DoughtyOne]

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...this is a general all-purpose message, and should not be seen as targeting any individual I am responding to...

[FenwickBabbitt]

Violence is the recourse of the intolerant, authoritarian Cultural Marxists and anarchists that are currently taking over the Democratic party. These types really are a danger, not just physically, but also to our basic values and freedoms.

[LouAvul]

before some Soros or Clinton paid thug takes things too far

Are you being serious? Those scumbags have already committed treason and are guilty of inciting riots. If our RINO Congress had more than two or three functioning IQ points between them, Soros and company would be on display in a cage.

[Farmer Dean]

What I meant was they start killing people.The country will explode then.

[Tolerance Sucks Rocks]

I haven’t really paid much attention to the “CW2” remarks on various threads, but nowadays, this seems to be where we’re heading. I’m getting my knife sharpened at the local gun store soon, and I will start carrying it with me, for defensive purposes.

[Tolerance Sucks Rocks]

Do you know who does the CWII ping? This thread is a perfect candidate.

[Tolerance Sucks Rocks]

Put these nutjobs in cages, before they put us in boxcars.

h/t to Norm Lenhart.

[Mmmike]

These aren’t “constitutents” expressing “anger.” These are leftist trash primed by Barack Hussein Spittle, Hitlery Rotten Clintler and Satan Ayers.

[jmacusa]

“An honest statesman need not fear an armed populace’’.- Thomas Jefferson.

[Travis McGee]

Ping Jack.

[TexasRepublic]

Violence is the natural mindset of the Left and always has been. If Cain was alive today, he would be a Democrat.

[Tolerance Sucks Rocks]

Thanks.

[Monorprise]

The left are by fact of their own propaganda in incapable of peaceful coexistent with anyone who disagrees with them. It seems if they can’t have government power to impose their way upon the people they must try to substitute their own violence.

One wonders if the price of union with theses dangerous fascist is becoming too high.

[Keyhopper]

Definitely not guilty

[Keyhopper]

You don’t bring a knife to a gunfight

[Fightin Whitey]

Definitely not guilty

She's legged and dangerous.

[SaraJohnson]

GOP - Beta males leading even weaker beta males.

[Nebr FAL owner]

And they still won’t admit to themselves that the Democrats don’t want to “govern” with them but rule as dictators . They seem to think that if they just suck that donkey dick a little longer & with just a little more enthusiasm the Democrats will stop hating them & stop working to get them stood up on the edge of a open mass grave waiting for a pistol shot to the back of the head.