This past week I watched a video of Mallory McMorrow, a Michigan State senator, responding to an attack, by a Republican senator who branded her Democratic colleague as a “social media troll” and a “snowflake” who was “outraged” at not being able to “groom and sexualize kindergarteners”.
She was additionally accused of wanting to make children feel responsible for slavery, to feel bad about themselves because they are white. McMorrow’s subsequent speech went viral and is well worth watching.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iLWo8B1R0MY
Quite a few pundits have said that this should serve as a model for Democrats on how to respond to Republican attempts at character assassination. Republicans try to hide behind the label ‘Christian’, while engaging in hateful attacks that are antithetical to the morality espoused by their church. Senator McMorrow after forcefully pushing back ends with the statement “we will not let hate win”.
Rachel Maddow, on her show, reflected on Putin’s use of false charges of pedophilia to destroy many standing in his way. Trump cult members of the far right have harnessed that same kind eliminationist rhetoric to vilify their opponents in the worst way.
A good example of this is the confirmation hearing of Ketanji Brown Jackson for a seat on the Supreme Court. She was accused of being soft on pedophiles. The persistence of their personal attacks is equaled only by their attempts to sow distrust in our institutions of government. In both they are playing with fire, threatening the future of our democracy.
While this kind of behavior is in vogue with Republicans in the news, I don’t often meet people who are this extreme. I was working in the Democratic office recently and someone that I hadn’t met before popped in. He asked me what I thought of Biden. I replied that I thought that he was doing a great job. He then proceeded to attack him, claiming that he was destroying the country by having an open border in the South.
I thought, here we go, a real fire breather spouting a typical right-wing meme. I sparred with him for a while and got a little worked up before I decided that I was spitting into the wind. I told him that as he seemed locked in to his opinions that I saw no purpose in talking to him further.
After he left, I was steeped in anger, wishing that I had a quicker wit so as to cause him to reflect on the error of his ways. I went to bed angry and had trouble falling asleep. I just don’t understand people who spend their lives hating those different from themselves, going to extremes to vilify these people who they perceive as their enemies. I finally had to let go of my anger because in the end I was only hurting myself and I don’t want to inhabit that mind space.
If we don’t want hate it starts with the good will of each one of us. That doesn’t mean that we can’t look them in the eye and remind them that we will stand our ground. We will not let hate win. We will vote in massive numbers this November!
Author Archives: Ron Malzer
Western Wisconsin Voters Turn Back Venomous Attacks April 5
MADISON CAP-TIMES Opinion |
Imagine this. You wake up one morning, and find that your picture is being distributed widely, with the words “REPEAT OFFENDER” in bold capital letters just above your head. Or you serve your community as a school board member and receive this email: “I am going to kill you and shoot up your next school-board meeting for promoting the horrific, radical transgender agenda.”
Both these happened recently to public servants in western Wisconsin. They brushed off these venomous attacks and continued with their reelection campaigns. They won decisive victories. They deserve a heartfelt thank you.
In La Crosse County, targeted by a mailed flyer was our incumbent County Board President Monica Kruse. The flyer stated: “Visit lacrossegop.org for more information.” The key messaging on page one was highlighted aggressively through the use of all capital letters: “Should Police Be Handcuffed by An Anti-Cop Political Activist and a Repeat Offender?”
What is Monica Kruse’s crime? Reading the fine print, she is being blasted for advocacy of an important principle: That we, the citizens and taxpayers of La Crosse County, should have some oversight over our police department, assuring that its work is fully consistent with its mission to serve and protect us all.
There is an important issue here, but it’s one that the attack ad completely turns around.
On Feb. 4, Ronna McDaniel, chair of the Republican National Committee, labeled the investigation into the violent Capitol insurrection on Jan. 6 as “persecution of ordinary citizens who engaged in legitimate political discourse.”
The brutal siege, aimed at taking hostage the vice president of the United States and the speaker of the House, was definitely violent; it was a violent coup attempting to replace democracy with autocracy. Among its impacts was the killing of one Capitol Police officer and the wounding of more than 100 others. Four police suicides occurred within months of the mob violence.
Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson has served as an apologist for this violence. After publicly reading a piece claiming that the violent insurrection was carried out by Trump opponents, Johnson later reversed course and received a spot to PolitiFact’s 2021 “Lies of the Year” with a “Pants on Fire” declaration that the insurrectionists were mostly “people that love this country, that truly respect law enforcement, would never do anything to break a law”.
When political leaders declare as legitimate a violent attack directed at public servants and the police, the lives of both our nation’s police and our public servants are seriously at risk.
Now let’s turn to Eau Claire. The email with the threat of lethal violence at a School Board meeting was received by School Board President Tim Nordin. It came from an email account called “Kill All Marxist Teachers.”
The Wisconsin Examiner reports: “In Eau Claire, all three school board candidates who ran on anti-LGBT platforms lost to the incumbents and their allies. The three conservative candidates stoked controversy about a teacher training program they claimed excludes parents from conversations about their children’s gender identity or sexual orientation. The issue became a topic of national news stories and outraged commentary on Fox News.”
Nordin responded: “This is Eau Claire’s election. Others want to control this election by inciting fear in you and driving votes with outside money and news coverage. They, quite literally, are trying to threaten us into submission. I remain unbowed.”
Voters in western Wisconsin turned back character assassination, targeted mailings and a gruesome death threat on April 5. We all have more work to do.
For advocates of police oversight, and for teachers, need to talk sensibly about gender or identity, we need to offer protection. Speaking out publicly will deter the hate and fear mongers from trying to silence public servants with death threats and personal attack ads against a few targeted individuals.
We need to let both our public servants and our police officers know that those who believe in democracy stand with them and have their backs.
Ron Malzer is a freelance writer who lives in La Crosse and believes we all have work to do to save our republic.