Tag: GOP fear mongering

Terrified Fox News viewers sent cops on wild-goose chases against nonexistent antifa threats: report

Raw Story Logo

Police chased down ridiculous tips about Antifa and Black Lives Matter called in by panicky conservatives all over the Pacific Northwest.

Fox News helped inflame fears of leftist protesters last summer, as demonstrators marched all over the country against police brutality and racism, and calls came pouring in about suspicious individuals and implausible plots, reported The Daily Beast.

“There was a young man with very short bleached blond hair who walked around in the street right in front of us and read every one of our signs,” said one woman from Anacortes, Washington, notified police via the NextDoor social network. “Paticularly [sic] the Support your Local Police. He had a mean look on his face and looked inside my Jeep where the tail gate was up and he could see more of our signs and American Flags.” Continue reading.

House GOP candidates join Trump in preaching hysteria

Fundraising pitches echo warnings of destruction of suburban way of life

ANALYSIS — The fundraising email arrived Friday afternoon. It was a message from House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, but the disclaimer said, “Paid for by Zeldin for Congress,” a reference to Republican Rep. Lee Zeldin of New York’s 1st District. The subject line of the email was “Stop the Mob NOW.”

“Friends,” the email began, “This November election is coming down to the fight between freedom and socialism. Rep. Lee Zeldin and I are quickly working to take back the House, re-elect President Trump, and push back against the radical left.”

“Over the past few weeks, we’ve seen countless mobs destroy our cities, harm our police officers, and disrupt law and order. The kicker is that they’re supported by the Democrats in Congress.” (The words in bold for emphasis was their idea, not mine.) Continue reading.

Fox News viewer charged for allegedly threatening to kill Adam Schiff

AlterNet logoJan Peter Meister, 52, has been indicted for threatening to kill Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) in October, newly released court records showed.

The documents recount a conversation Meister has with investigators, which revealed he was a Fox News viewer and was likely intoxicated at the time of the alleged threat, as The Informant noted:

Agents explained that the call was to Congressman Adam Schiff.

MEISTER responded that he watches Fox News and likely was upset at something that he saw on the news. He stated that he strongly dislikes the Democrats, and feels they are to blame for the country’s political issues.

Continue reading.

Campaign messages meant to inspire fear: We’re better than this

The following commentary by Donna Greenberg Koren was posted on the MinnPost website August 28, 2018:

Credit: Alan Clark, Creative Commons via Flickr

I received a political survey call last week that I can’t shake. The focus quickly turned to the attorney general’s race, and the messages that the Republican candidate, Doug Wardlow, is apparently testing. I hadn’t known anything about Wardlow, except his party; but now, I do.

His campaign, or one working on his behalf, appears to be testing messages against Muslims; immigrants; and a decades-old past association between the Democratic candidate, Keith Ellison, a Muslim, and a fringe group that Ellison disavowed years ago. These campaign messages don’t say who Wardlow is, or what he can do to serve Minnesota. They are designed to stir fear and hatred of the stranger, because of the way they dress, the color of their skin, the particulars of how they pray. They play on fear of the other, and they turned my stomach cold.

The next time that you or a loved one is in a hospital, look at who is serving you — the phlebotomist in the hijab who carefully places the needle in a vein that’s been threaded many times before. The nurse with skin the color of a shiny coffee bean, who smiles at you and says that he will pray for you, and means it, as he shows you how to empty your ileostomy appliance. The oncologist who came to America from India as a boy, who now holds your life in his hands. And your strikingly blunt but powerfully effective radiologist from China who saved you from a painful, invasive surgery.

View the complete post here.