Self-appointed vigilantes inspired by MAGA lies are staking out Arizona ballot drop boxes.
Maricopa County recorder Stephen Richer, himself a Republican election conspiracy theorist (details here), calls them “morons.”
And now that he runs the county’s elections, he’s seeing for himself how silly the rightwing conspiracy theories and distrust of elections are (see story here).
Meanwhile, an anonymous group with a foreign-based website is sending threatening letters to Arizona Democratic county chairs (photo below), and putting fliers on car windshields warning people they’re being “watched,” which police are investigating (see story here). This isn’t free speech, it’s making terroristic threats.
Leaders like Trump and Kari Lake, and prominent figures like Rudy Giuliani and Mike Lindell, who peddle lies and false conspiracy theories bear a primary responsibility for the rightwing paranoia over elections. But unless their followers were born brain-dead — and sometimes one wonders — they’re responsible for brandishing guns, making threats, and stalking voters.
And it’s the little guys and gals, the members of the mob, who will be prosecuted while the instigators skate. It may seem unfair. But no one made them join the mob.
