First of all, they’re sore losers.
Reuters tracked down 9 people, 7 men and 2 women, who’ve harassed or threatened U.S. election officials and election workers. They’re all Trump supporters. They’re all sore about Trump’s defeat and unwilling to accept the election was fair.
They consider themselves “patriots.” They’ve been radicalized by far-right propaganda, and believe Trump’s election lies. Some buy into QAnon conspiracies. In short, they’re gullible, crazy — and angry. They’re simplistic thinkers, seeing the world as black or white, a war of good against evil. As an example of this, Reuters points to Ross Miller, a Georgia real estate investor, who said, “You’re either a patriot for the freedom of this country or you’re a communist against it.”
Miller probably has no real idea of what a “communist” actually is.
Reuters says “Eric Pickett, a 42-year-old night staffer at a youth treatment center in Utah, said his anger boiled over after watching an Aug. 10 ‘cyber symposium’ held by pillow magnate Mike Lindell, a Trump ally who has pushed false election conspiracy theories.” Then, after listening to a bunch of lies, “Pickett snapped” and sent a Colorado election official a death threat.
“I didn’t know they would take it as a threat,” he told Reuters. “I was thinking they would just take it as somebody just trolling them.” The Colorado official didn’t see it that way; she called police. “Three legal experts said the message met the threshold of a threat that could be prosecuted under federal law,” Reuters says, but Pickett wasn’t charge, nor did he lose his job.
Another man who’s threatened Vermont officials told Reuters he left the voicemails “to express his ‘absolute dissatisfaction’ in the election.” He “repeated debunked claims” that “thousands of fake ballots were cast in Arizona.” Over a period of 25 days, he texted the Reuters reporters “91 times, sharing misinformation on the origins of the coronavirus and other conspiracy theories.” The he texted the reporters, “I am going to destroy you, and that is a threat.” He told them he had “a baseball bat and a machete.”
The police have done nothing. They don’t believe they can.
America is unlike other countries. There’s a lot of freedom to be crazy, to believe nonsense, to say what you like. But when your actions affect others, there should be limits.
Read story here.