We had our first in-person experience with an anti-masker today as we checked out of physical therapy. There was a loud guy spouting off at the receptionist about cancelling the rest of his PT appointments because he didn’t like being required to wear a mask. He started ranting about the government controlling us and then out came his Biblical misbeliefs. God wanted him to fear no man, only God Himself. And it’s against his religion to wear a mask.
Ted spoke up. “Where in the Bible does it say we’re not allowed to wear masks?”
The man conceded there wasn’t a verse against wearing a mask but then he began to go on the offensive. “Why are you wearing a mask?”
And Ted answered that it was to protect himself and other people.
The man was confrontational. “So you’re afraid of getting covid.”
Ted began to answer but their voices had become loud and so the head therapist, Kari, came out and put herself between the two men. She distracted Loud Mouth long enough for TBedand I to get away from there. Ted was really steaming!
I’ve seen some really fucked up posts and twitters from anti-maskers and anti-vaxxers but this is the first time we encountered such a fanatic in person.
I watched the hearing yesterday, mostly horrified. It’s not that I was shocked by new revelations. I read about tRump’s bullying of Secretary Rathensberger of Georgia last year. I remember there was some trashing of election workers by TFG. The difference is that what I read was just presented in that journalistic neutral language. There was little emotion other than tRump’s absolute arrogance and corruption.
Now, though, I was hearing how deeply it affected the people who were bullied, harassed, and threatened. The first three witnesses were all Republicans of the old GOP style, when patriotism meant doing the right thing and defending the Constitution. Arizona Speaker of the House Rusty Bowers became emotional when he testified about how tRump tried to get him to violate the law and the Constitution to try and keep the presidency. Bowers said no and no and no again. He felt that the Constitution was “divinely inspired” and he is a man of faith. There’s no way he could compromise himself to help tRump cheat.
So, what did tRump do then? He sent his mob to torment and harass Bowers, his wife, and terminally ill daughter. Bowers said he and his wife dread Saturdays because people still show up in vans proclaiming that he is a pervert, a pedophile and other awful names using loudspeakers. He testified one man had a gun and got into an argument with a neighbor. Afraid of what would happen, he was forced to go outside and intervene.
Secretary Raffensberger was hassled over and over by tRump and Guiliani to find about 11,700 votes so he would claim victory over Joe Biden. Raffensberger wouldn’t do it. He said they’d counted and recounted and Biden had won. The committee played excerpts from tRump’s 67-minute call haranguing Raffensberger to come through and find those votes somehow. TFG went from promising Raffensberger he’d be praised for telling the 45 “truth” to whining and complaining that he couldn’t believe Raffensberger wouldn’t help to threatening the secretary with jail if he didn’t cooperate. After that came the nasty tweets, emails, calls, and home visits. The messages sent to poor Mrs. Raffensberger were of a “sexual” nature. Their widowed daughter-in-law suffered a break in from loony tRump supporters/terrorists.
The third witness, Gabriel Sterling, lost his shit when he saw a tweet stating that a young man counting votes had gotten threats. The committee showed portions of a video from Sterling’s press conference on December 1 calling tRump out, telling him to stop what he was doing because he would get someone killed. I was really impressed with Sterling’s sign language interpreter. He really conveyed Sterling’s emotion as he signed. Message received … but not by tRump, who continued to terrorize anyone in his way.
I was chilled by tRump’s attitude toward Mike Pence from last Thursday’s testimony. When Pence wouldn’t do what tRump wanted, a mob of violent insurrectionists was sent after the vice president, yelling “Hang Mike Pence” and erecting a gallows. As bad as that was, it wasn’t nearly as chilling and heart breaking as what happened to two Georgia election workers, a mother and a daughter, Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss.
Giuliani and TFG posted a video of Freeman and Moss as they were counting votes and falsely claimed that they were cheating. They both called them all kind of slanderous names and the response was almost immediate. Messages of hate and threats began pouring in. Moss was shocked and overwhelmed, as was her mother. Moss had always loved her job, especially helping elderly people register to vote. Many of the elderly had been prevented from voting years before because of Jim Crow laws. Coincidentally, the hearing was airing on the anniversary of the murders of the three civil rights workers in Mississippi. Suddenly, now, she was getting messages like she should feel lucky it was 2020 and not 1920. That’s a lynching threat.
The threat became so serious, Ruby Freeman was forced to leave her home for two months. The FBI told her it was too dangerous for her to stay home and she should stay away until after the inauguration. And trumpers showed up at Moss’s grandmother’s house and tried to get in when she answered the door. Now Moss is practically a recluse. Freeman is afraid, always looking around if she goes out.
Not a single election worker is still employed at that office. They all quit, including Moss.
The losses they suffered is almost palpable. Ruby Freeman said, imagine if the President of the United States comes after you. The President is supposed to protect all citizens, not terrorize them.
That is right. The President is NOT supposed to lie, cheat or steal an election. He is not supposed to threaten his vice president, local and state officials, or election workers just doing their jobs. Here is what’s scary: election workers throughout the country have gotten death threats. Many are quitting. Who is going to make sure the voting proceeds legally if all the good, decent people quit?
This evil tRump started is pervasive throughout the country. In spite of all the illegal shenanigans, sheeple are voting for 45’s backed candidates. If they win, we won’t have a democracy anymore. It’ll be fascist; a dictatorship. It would be a Hitler and Mussolini regime all over again.
I wonder if my friends and family are sleeping. I’m active on Facebook and I’m not seeing a single post from anyone expressing outrage about tRump’s evil shenanigans. I see more posts on Twitter from supporters of democracy and that’s encouraging but I don't know them. I want to know where are my relatives? My friends?
It’s time for everyone to step up and speak out and not play the ostrich.
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