{"id":8159,"date":"2017-05-22T11:11:20","date_gmt":"2017-05-22T15:11:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.wasobamaborninkenya.com\/blog\/?p=8159"},"modified":"2017-05-22T11:28:49","modified_gmt":"2017-05-22T15:28:49","slug":"republicans-fearing-for-their-safety-as-anger-threats-mount","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wasobamaborninkenya.com\/blog\/republicans-fearing-for-their-safety-as-anger-threats-mount\/","title":{"rendered":"Republicans fearing for their safety as anger, threats mount"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Image credit: Rick Bowmer \/ Associated Press<\/p>\n

=======================================<\/strong><\/p>\n

Republicans fearing for their safety as anger, threats mount<\/strong><\/h1>\n

The Hill<\/strong>
\nby Cristina Marcos
\n5\/21\/2017<\/p>\n

Excerpts:<\/strong><\/p>\n

A growing number of House Republicans are facing physical threats from angry constituents in their districts, leading many to fear for their safety.<\/em><\/p>\n

In the last few weeks alone, the FBI arrested a man threatening Rep. Martha McSally’s (R-Ariz.) life, a woman\u00a0pursued\u00a0Rep. 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.<\/em><\/p>\n

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.<\/em><\/p>\n

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\u2019s healthcare bill.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Lately, though, Republicans have observed some furious constituents who appear to be going even further.<\/em><\/p>\n

Rep. Dave Brat (R-Va.) described attendees at a town hall in his district last week who booed him down after he said people\u2019s rights are God-given.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cThey 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,\u201d Brat recounted to The Hill just off the House floor. \u201cThat\u2019s a fundamental tenet of western civilization. I mean, I didn\u2019t think that was partisan.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

………………………………………………..<\/em><\/p>\n

The FBI arrested a Tucson, Ariz. man for leaving three threatening messages on McSally\u2019s congressional office voicemail, in which he allegedly said her days \u201cwere numbered\u201d 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\u2019s votes to back up Trump.<\/em><\/p>\n

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.<\/em><\/p>\n

In Tennessee, a woman angry over Kustoff\u2019s 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\u2019s windows, according to local reports.<\/em><\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Garrett spokesman Andrew Griffin said the freshman lawmaker has received at least three death threats over the course of the healthcare debate. \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

One constituent called Garrett\u2019s Washington office and said if his healthcare is taken away, he would take Garrett\u2019s life away. Another person sent a message to Garrett\u2019s campaign Facebook page with graphic details describing how they would kill Garrett.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Griffin said investigating authorities have asked not to publicly reveal any details about the third case yet.<\/em><\/p>\n

In light of all the threats, Garrett made sure to increase security at his town hall in Moneta, Va. last week.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

A security presence at town halls hasn\u2019t prevented some physical confrontations. A constituent angry over the GOP\u2019s healthcare bill approached Rep. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.), took dollar bills from his wallet and tried to shove them into the lawmaker\u2019s suit pocket, the Bismarck Tribune reported.<\/em><\/p>\n

Other times, the lawmakers targeted by the most extreme protesters don\u2019t end up getting the brunt of the hostility.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Jeff Fortenberry (R-Neb.) wasn\u2019t home when his young daughter found a sign on the family\u2019s lawn last week that read: \u201cTraitors put party above country Do the right thing for once, shithead.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cAttack me, protest against me, but do not frighten my children at their home,\u201d Fortenberry said in an interview with Fox News\u2019s Neil Cavuto.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cIf 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.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

…………………………………………<\/p>\n

View the complete article including video, links and comments at:<\/strong><\/p>\n

http:\/\/thehill.com\/homenews\/house\/334333-republicans-fearing-for-their-safety-as-anger-threats-mount<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Image credit: Rick Bowmer \/ Associated Press ======================================= Republicans fearing for their safety as anger, threats mount The Hill by Cristina Marcos 5\/21\/2017 Excerpts: A growing number of House Republicans are facing physical threats from angry constituents in their districts, … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8159","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wasobamaborninkenya.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8159","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wasobamaborninkenya.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wasobamaborninkenya.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wasobamaborninkenya.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wasobamaborninkenya.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8159"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.wasobamaborninkenya.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8159\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8164,"href":"https:\/\/www.wasobamaborninkenya.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8159\/revisions\/8164"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wasobamaborninkenya.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8159"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wasobamaborninkenya.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8159"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wasobamaborninkenya.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8159"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}