Category: Anger

Fox News was so scared of what Karine Jean-Pierre was saying that they cut off the video

https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2022/10/fox-news-scared-karine-jean-pierre-saying-cut-off-video/

Fox lies and misinforms the right base so badly they are not even part of reality the rest of us live in.   In the old days people that were this confused and believed in untrue stuff would be shunned and ignored.   People would rightly say they have a mental illness or be terminally stupid.   But they now are a large part of a major political party and the most reliable voting base of the same political party.    They are loud and can be very violent, they are convinced they are not only correct but because they are told it by the only media they consume that they are the majority, and they have the right to force others to do as they demand.   All of that is wrong, but it is what they are told and as they won’t check with other media facts don’t matter to them.  When a Fox employee asks a question they are not looking for an answer to it but they are framing it so they can build a story / sound bite off it to attack the left / democrats or to further the culture wars they so love to engage in.   In this case it backfired, their viewers might have learned right wing media has been lying to them on the oil situation.    Hugs

 
Fox News asked her a question but didn’t show her answer because it “didn’t make any sense.” But someone dug up the video of her answer.
 
By  
White House Principal Deputy Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre holds a press briefing on Friday, July 30, 2021, in the James S. Brady Press Briefing Room of the White House.
White House Principal Deputy Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre holds a press briefing on Friday, July 30, 2021, in the James S. Brady Press Briefing Room of the White House.Photo: Official White House Photo by Erin Scott

Fox News said that out Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre gave a nonsensical answer to a Fox reporter, so they weren’t going to even show what she had to say. But what she said made sense… and contradicted Fox’s narrative about gas prices going into the midterm elections.

At yesterday’s White House press briefing, Fox News’s Peter Doocy asked Jean-Pierre about oil companies, which are making record profits as gas prices are high.

“What makes you think that they are going to listen to an administration that is ultimately trying to put them out of business?” Doocy asked.

“How is the administration trying to put them out of business?” Jean-Pierre replied.

“Well, they produce fossil fuels, and this president says he wants to end fossil fuel,” Doocy responded.

At the briefing, that’s when Jean-Pierre gave her full answer. But on Fox News, that’s exactly where they cut off the clip.

“We wanted to show you the rest of her answer but she didn’t make any sense,” Fox host Jesse Watters said.

While Fox News may not have faith that its audience could comprehend her answer, LGBTQ Nation trusts its readers a bit more.

First, Jean-Pierre pointed out that U.S. oil production is “up and on track to reach a record high next year.”

“We’ve seen that from their- from when we see their profit margins,” she continued, adding that they’re at a “record high.”

“And so, in fact, the United States has produced more oil in President Biden’s first year than under Trump’s administration’s first year,” she continued. “But at the same time, oil companies are raking in record profits while more than 9,000 approved drilling permits remain untapped by the oil industry.”

“There is no shortage of opportunity or incentive for all companies to ramp up production.  This is something that they can actually do.”

On Twitter, Media Matters’ Kat Abu put the video clips together.

 

Her statement contradicts Fox’s coverage of gas prices, which has tried to pin the blame for rising gas prices on the Biden administration and “Biden and Pelosi’s far-left socialist agenda,” as one article on Fox’s site put it earlier this month. Fox has regularly said that Biden enraged oil industry executives with his opposition to the Keystone XL pipeline, which they also blame for high gas prices. Other commentators on Fox have said – similar to what Doocy implied at the press briefing – that the left actually wants to increase gas prices to force people to use greener energy.

On Twitter, people criticized Fox News for its attack on Jean-Pierre.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 

Ted Cruz shared name of trans preschool teacher on Twitter to his 5.3 million followers

https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2022/10/ted-cruz-shared-name-trans-preschool-teacher-twitter-5-3-million-followers/

Cruz knows what the maga base will do next.  They will hound this teacher and this school with threats and intimidation until the teacher so afraid for their life they leave voluntarily forever hounded by right wing thugs, or the school in fear has to fire the teacher.   LGBTQ+ are being made into villains, sexual predators and made social pariahs by the right including elected officials with the job of protecting all people in the US.  Plus what Cruz is mocking is the tolerance, acceptance, and positive way the pregnant teacher is framed by the school.   Which is a good thing.   The society is changing and should be more accepting of diversity and differences.  Medically trans people exist, they are here, they have lives they should live freely and openly, they are not evil or sinful.   If you at home want to teach your kids that trans people are sinful or evil fine, but the schools must & should teach non-discrimination against people that are not committing any crime and have legal rights regardless if you think they are evil or sinful.   The religious trans haters have a right to their opinion, but not to take actions against people simply because they don’t like them.   Hugs

The Republican senator has been roundly criticized for potentially exposing a private citizen to anti-LGBTQ harassment and violence.
 
By  
Ted Cruz's daughter disagrees with his politics
Republican Texas Senator Ted Cruz Photo: Shutterstock
 

Texas Sen.Ted Cruz (R) is one of several right-wing figures who invaded the privacy of a pregnant preschool teacher by exposing his name on social media.

Earlier this week, Cruz quote-tweeted a tweet from conservative activist Phil Kerpen that included screenshots of an email from a Washington, D.C., preschool outlining how parents should discuss a trans teacher’s pregnancy with students. Kerpen, who has over 100,000 followers on the platform, included screenshots that mentioned both the name of the school and the teacher.

The email reportedly framed the teacher’s pregnancy in positive terms and advised parents of “kids who may have associations with pregnancy and a certain gender, (‘only girls/moms can have babies’)” to echo the teacher’s own language around his pregnancy: “‘some boys have bodies that can have babies, and I have the kind of body that can have a baby, isn’t that cool?!’” The school also reportedly offered other resources to help facilitate discussions of transgender people, gender identity, and pregnancy with preschool-age children.

Cruz retweeted Kerpen’s post exposing the teacher’s name to his 5.3 million followers with the caption “Not satire.”

 

Kerpen’s tweet has been deleted, but right-wing media outlets like the Washington Examiner, the Citizen Free Press, and Sinclair Broadcast Group’s The National Desk seized on the story, further exposing the teacher’s name.

Cruz’s tweet, which does not include the name of the teacher or the school, remains up. The senator has been roundly criticized for exposing a private citizen to potential anti-LGBTQ harassment and violence.

 

https://twitter.com/mamrycalamity/status/1582464089829539840?s=20&t=bxwF0WnLgF1TDQNg1P-q4A

 

The Many Crimes Facing “The Party Of Family Values”

Trump LOSES AGAIN, Lawyer Must Reveal Emails

A federal judge in California has ruled that Trump attorney John Eastman must disclose emails to the January 6th Committee. Cenk Uygur and Ana Kasparian discuss on The Young Turks. Watch TYT LIVE on weekdays 6-8 pm ET.

http://youtube.com/theyoungturks/live

Read more HERE: https://news.yahoo.com/judge-finds-tr…

“A federal judge in California has declared that emails from one of former president Donald Trump’s campaign attorneys should be disclosed to the House January 6 select committee because they pertain to a conspiracy to defraud the United States by submitting false claims as part of his effort to have courts overturn 2020 election results.

In an 18-page opinion and order published on Wednesday, US District Judge David Carter said emails from ex-Chapman University law professor John Eastman must be turned over because they show Mr Trump “knew that the specific numbers of voter fraud were wrong but continued to tout those numbers, both in court and to the public”.

Mr Eastman has for months been fighting to prevent the select committee from obtaining emails related to his involvement in Mr Trump’s push to reverse the results of the 2020 election and keep himself in the White House against the wishes of US voters.

The law professor had argued that the messages are protected by attorney-client privilege.” *

MAGA Chud Arrested For Indecent Act Near A Preschool

Republican candidate Randy Gene Kaufman has been arrested for publically masturbating in his truck next to a preschool in Arizona. Ana Kasparian and John Iadarola discuss on The Young Turks. Watch LIVE weekdays 6-8 pm ET.

http://youtube.com/theyoungturks/live

Read more HERE: https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/m…

“Randy Gene Kaufman, a Trump-loving Republican candidate for the Maricopa County Community College District Governing Board, was arrested for public sexual indecency after he was caught allegedly watching porn and masturbating in his car near a preschool on Oct. 4.

According to an affidavit, a Maricopa County police officer noticed a Ford F-150 parked across three spaces with a shade screen across the front windshield. The officer wrote that he approached the car and “immediately became alarmed as I saw [Kaufman] had his pants down mid-thigh and was exposed showing his fully erect nude penis,” Kaufman was reportedly so engrossed in his activities that he did not notice the officer at his passenger side door until he moved around the car to the drivers side window.

The officer wrote that the car was parked “with a full view of the Wirtzels Preschool and Child Care Center,” about 190 feet away, and that he saw “several preschool age children having outdoor activities in the playground,” as well as vehicles passing within 10 feet of the car.

Kaufman was asked to step out of the vehicle and was questioned by the officer. Kaufman claimed he had been in the area buying rebar and that he didn’t normally do this. “I’m just really stressed out. I have a lot of things going on,” he told the officer, admitting to having been watching intteracial porn in his car. When questioned as to if he knew he was so close to a preschool he responded, “I didn’t notice it until you came up and I got out of my truck.”

“I really fucked up; this is bad. You have no idea, Kauffman told the officer, “I’m running for the Governing Board for the colleges. I didn’t even know this was one of your sites but now I see the signs all over in the parking lot.””

*

Most Republicans want students to learn about everything except for LGBTQ people

https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2022/10/republicans-want-students-learn-everything-except-lgbtq-people/

Republicans support teaching kids about sexuality, as long as it’s heterosexuality.
 
By  
 
An empty classroom
Photo: Shutterstock
 

Most Americans support teaching about controversial topics in school, except when those controversial topics deal with LGBTQ people.

According to a new study from the University of Southern California (USC), majorities of both Republicans and Democrats supported teaching about numerous controversial topics in high school, including racial inequality, immigrant rights, environmental issues, and even about pro- and anti-choice positions.

Only four topics USC asked about got less than majority support from Republicans: gay rights, sexual orientation, gender identity, and trans rights. Between 30% and 40% of Republicans supported high school students learning about those topics in school, compared to between 84% and 86% of Democrats.

And the issue isn’t human sexuality in general. Over 90% of Republicans and Democrats supported teaching sex education in schools.

The graph showing Democaatic and Republican support for teaching various topics

The findings come after conservatives have been working to pass “Don’t Say Gay” laws in several states. Florida passed one such law, which bans discussions of sexual orientation and gender identity in young grades and restricts such discussions in higher grade levels.

Supporters of the bill have said that any discussion about sexuality around children is a form of “grooming” or child sex abuse, and they have often stressed that their views on the matter aren’t discriminatory. But those statements contradict the survey’s findings that Republicans are generally fine with schools teaching kids about human sexuality, as long as that sexuality is heterosexuality.

The Brookings Institution, which worked on the study, noted that a majority of Americans support teaching about all of the 24 topics they asked about.

The study was part of the Understanding America Study and involved a representative sample of 3751 adults surveyed between August 15 and September 12.

Republicans Introduce National “Don’t Say Gay” Bill

Congressional Republicans have introduced a bill that would cut federal funding to schools that discuss LGBTQ+ rights. Cenk Uygur and Ana Kasparian discuss on The Young Turks. Watch TYT LIVE on weekdays 6-8 pm ET.

http://youtube.com/theyoungturks/live
Read more HERE: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2…

“Congressional Republicans introduced a measure Tuesday that would prohibit federal money from being used to teach children under 10 about LGBTQ issues.

The bill would prohibit the use of federal funds to teach children about “sexually-oriented material” as well as “any topic involving gender identity, gender dysphoria, transgenderism, sexual orientation, or related subjects”. The effects of such a law, if enacted, would be far-reaching since a range of institutions – schools, libraries, among them – receive public money.

The bill also gives parents the ability to sue in federal court if their child is exposed to the barred material that is funded “in whole or in part” by federal funds.” *

Shapiro Host: Arrest Every Adult At Drag Shows Where Children Are Present, “Charge Them All As Pedophiles” – JMG

Shapiro Host: Arrest Every Adult At Drag Shows Where Children Are Present, “Charge Them All As Pedophiles”

Drag shows are not sexual.  Drag shows are cosplay.  It is dress up, a lot of the time over top dress up.   It has no sexual orientation to it, and just because a person does drag doesn’t mean they are trans.   Look at the history of vaudeville and TV shows from the earliest days to the 1990s.   Ever see Bosom Buddies, a show about two guys dressing as women to live in a rent controlled building that is female only.     It was a sitcom, but there was no outrage about those men in a woman’s space.   Why now with trans girls?   Because the right wing managed to equate trans girls with sexual predation, with sexual misconduct.  The right wing needed a boogieman and used the group they already hate, the LGBTQ+.   The same with drag shows.   They are not really a part of the LGBTQ+ community because unless it is designed to be burlesque show which is sexy and done with both real women with some times drag.   But burlesque is not drag shows.   Again the right has taken a normal word that means one thing and created an image around it so every time it is mentioned the base thinks the worst thing possible.  That was their goal against CRT and it worked.  Now they are doing it with drag shows.   We must not let them weaponize the language this way.   This is a small gang of religious bigots who are managing to get their own way and hurt the entire LGBTQ+ community and we need everyone to stand up to them.  Now every day I read one to three stories of clergy raping / molesting kids.  Every day!  But I have yet to read one of a molestation happening at a drag queen story hour or a family friendly drag show.    Hugs

“We have successfully frozen their brand—’critical race theory’—into the public conversation and are steadily driving up negative perceptions. We will eventually turn it toxic, as we put all of the various cultural insanities under that brand category,” Rufo wrote. “The goal is to have the public read something crazy in the newspaper and immediately think ‘critical race theory.’ We have decodified the term and will recodify it to annex the entire range of cultural constructions that are unpopular with Americans.”  Right wing activist Christopher Rufo 

Now the story from Joe.My.God

“Just like cancer, stopping it is not a gentle or a painless process. The farther along the cancer is, the more aggressive you have to be in fighting it.

“Culturally, we are approaching, if we haven’t already reached, a terminal state, which means we have to be all the more aggressive, which calls for two things.

“First, obviously involving children in drag events in any capacity should be outright criminalized everywhere. There is no other way.

“You know, this doesn’t stop until police are breaking down the doors at these places and carting the adults away in handcuffs.

“Charge them all as pedophiles. Throw them in prison, and whenever they get out, if they do get out, put them on the sex offender registry for life.” – Daily Wire host Matt Walsh.

Walsh last appeared on JMG when he declared that Disney’s black mermaid is “unscientific.”

The previous month he appeared here when he blamed the Buffalo mass shooting on pandemic lockdowns.

Earlier this year, we heard from him when he declared that lesbians will cease to exist over the next 30 years.

Before that, he appeared here when he called for banning adoption by LGBT people. And before that, he appeared here when he called for dissolving the United States.

Walsh also claims that shooting people “is not against the law.” Walsh has declared that “everybody would be happier” if arranged marriages were mandatory.

There’s no sex involved, asswipe. It’s Dress-Up and Story Time. Kids understand Dress-Up.

What, me worry? • 13 hours ago

TK-Fla Mr.E • 13 hours ago

Mine too. And well done choreography to that music. They don’t make cartoons like that anymore. Boomerang is a great channel where you can still watch them – including the really old Bugs Bunny and other WB cartoons.”A Corny Concerto” was awesome.

AyJayDee • 14 hours ago

Between this, Twitter’s refusal to suspend Chaya Raichik and Lara Logan’s Blood Libel, we’re at the point where genocidal hate speech is becoming normalized and mainstreamed.

Robert Conner • 13 hours ago

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Arrest every adult at these “beauty pageants.” Charge them all as pedophiles. Yes, seriously.

Epic Collision Robert Conner • 13 hours ago

Now that’s child abuse.

Snarkaholic Robert Conner • 6 hours ago

I’ve never watched one of these atrocities, but are the judges women…
…or creepy old men?

Ganon • 13 hours ago

Keep in mind, this douche nozzle also claimed in a tweet that gays have destroyed the institution of marriage more than anyone while admitting he’s been married three times (in this same tweet). 🙄

HoneyBoySmith • 14 hours ago

Children are in infinitely more danger at churches than they at drag shows.

Does Walsh think adults who accompany children to church services should be arrested and charged as pedophiles?

If not, why not?

Eric Mory • 14 hours ago

“Charge them all as pedophiles.” Luckily in America we don’t criminally charge people “as” or for “being” anything. Criminal charges come from doing things. When people leave out exactly someone needs to be charged for doing, you know it’s a smear job.

They are like bears that found some mayonnaise at the dump…..

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Halou • 13 hours ago

The same Matt Walsh who recently said fucking 16 year olds is good because fertility?

jmax • 12 hours ago

I love how these sex-obsessed perverts always accuse others of sexualizing children.

Flynn Group Recruits Cops, Vets for ‘One More Mission’—to Watch Election Sites

https://www.thedailybeast.com/michael-flynn-group-recruits-cops-and-military-veterans-for-one-more-mission-to-watch-election-sites?ref=home

Despite its nonpartisan claims, One More Mission is funded by a group led by some of the most prominent pro-Trump election deniers in the country.

Will Sommer

Politics Reporter

Photo Illustration by Elizabeth Brockway/The Daily Beast/Getty

 
 

A conservative group led by former Trump national security adviser and election denier Michael Flynn is trying to recruit thousands of police officers to work as poll monitors on Election Day—and reaching out to QAnon conspiracy theorists to aid in its recruitment effort.

Dubbed “One More Mission,” the group bills itself as a nonpartisan effort to recruit military veterans, as well as police officers and other emergency workers, to monitor polls in an effort to “defend our Constitutional right to vote.”

“Our team wanted to find an apolitical solution, a business solution, if you will,” a man in one recruitment video says.

One More Mission’s promotional materials argue that police and veterans are the most trusted figures in the United States and that they should therefore be used to certify to the public that elections are legitimate. In a late September press release announcing its launch, the group claimed to be a politically independent solution to fears of voter fraud.

 

“This is just an opportunity for those guys to continue the mission in protecting the integrity of our Constitution,” Travis Wilson, a former Green Beret turned supplement company owner who also works with One More Mission, told The Daily Beast.

In an interview with The Daily Beast, a spokeswoman for One More Mission initially said she wasn’t sure who funded the organization. In reality, despite its claims to be nonpartisan, One More Mission is funded by another group led by some of the most prominent pro-Trump election deniers in the country. In a single sentence on its website, One More Mission reveals that it’s funded by the America Project, a group of people convinced the 2020 election was stolen that is led by Flynn, his brother Joseph, and millionaire former Overstock.com CEO Patrick Byrne.

The America Project has spent millions of dollars on conservative election efforts, many of them aimed at promoting “election integrity.” Now with One More Mission, the group aims to recruit tens of thousands more poll watchers with military and police experience, according to a video Byrne posted online.

In his interview with The Daily Beast, Wilson spoke vaguely about concerns about the election being stolen but declined to name specific instances of fraud in 2020.

‘That, I’m not going to get into,” Wilson said.

Instead, he cited videos of Kari Lake, the Republican candidate for Arizona governor who has promoted false claims of election theft.

But Byrne has no such compunctions. He wrote a book about his election-fraud theories, filled with details about how he believes nefarious forces he calls “goons” stole the election from Donald Trump. In the final days of the Trump presidency, Byrne attended a White House meeting with Flynn and others in which some participants pushed for Trump to declare martial law or use the military to seize ballots.

Byrne didn’t respond to a request for comment.

One More Mission’s website doesn’t mention Byrne or Flynn, instead highlighting members of the group with law enforcement and military backgrounds. But on the fringes of the QAnon conspiracy theorist media ecosystem, Byrne has been on a campaign of his own to recruit police officers and veterans from a conspiracy theory movement premised on the idea that Trump will someday institute a fascist purge and imprison his enemies.

In a late September appearance on the QAnon show “Patriot Streetfighter,” Byrne made clear his support for One More Mission was premised on the idea that the 2020 election was stolen. Byrne said the group had already received interest from roughly 1,000 people just days after its launch.

“We’re living through a psy-op,” Byrne said, explaining his belief that election fraud is part of a “psychological operation” to destroy the United States.

Later in the promotional appearance for One More Mission, Byrne agreed with his pro-QAnon host’s claim that a sinister “cabal” is smuggling murderers and rapists into the United States.

Whatever One More Mission’s purpose in recruiting its poll watchers, it’s clear that Republicans have had trouble with the credibility of some of their earlier star election-fraud witnesses. Mellissa Carone, a purported witness championed by Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani, was revealed to have a criminal past and saw her offbeat demeanor mocked on Saturday Night Live. In court filings, former Trump campaign lawyer Sidney Powell cited an election-fraud expert who was later revealed to be overstating his military background.

Amateur election-fraud hunting efforts have already sparked at least one law enforcement investigation. Earlier this week, Arizona’s secretary of state referred a complaint to the Justice Department about a group of people following a person who dropped off a ballot.

One More Mission’s backers insist that the group isn’t promoting violence or the carrying of guns around election sites. In interviews with QAnon figures about the group, Byrne mentions that poll monitors must be peaceful.

“We’re not going to be bouncers or security guards,” Wilson said. “We’re not going to be standing there like thugs.”

Some of the group’s promotional videos, though, are more aggressive. One describes the organization as issuing a “call to arms” and shows what appear to be World War II-era newsreels of soldiers marching and planes dropping bombs.

Feds Alerted to Creepy Surveillance Attempt at Arizona Drop Box

https://www.thedailybeast.com/doj-alerted-to-creepy-surveillance-attempt-at-maricopa-county-arizona-drop-box

Vigilante thugs, a gang of far right thugs deciding who they think get to vote or not get to vote based on looks.    This is what maga means when they say they want to safeguard the polls and other parts of voting.   What they really mean is stopping anyone that is black, foreign, or looks anti-maga from voting.   Intimidate as many non-republicans as possible.  It is like the voter suppression laws and gerrymandering, republicans cannot win on ideas nor on policy, so they resort to cheating.   Because how they win doesn’t matter to them, winning itself is the only important thing.  The 2000 Mules is a conspiracy theory of the right, it is a debunked film by GOP political operative Dinesh D’Souza that falsely claims there was significant voter fraud during the 2020 presidential election.   Hugs

The Arizona Secretary of State’s office told The Daily Beast it “talked to the voter” involved, and escalated their complaint to the DOJ.

Justin Rohrlich

Reporter

Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

 
 

Allegations of possible voter intimidation in a highly politicized Arizona county have been escalated to state and federal law enforcement authorities for potential prosecution, The Daily Beast has confirmed.

In an email, Sophia Solis, a spokeswoman for Arizona Secretary of State (SOS) Katie Hobbs, said Thursday that Hobbs’ office “has referred to the DOJ and AG a report from a voter that the voter was approached and followed by a group of individuals when the voter was trying to drop off their ballot at an early voting drop box on Monday.”

“The location was at the Juvenile Justice Court drop box location in Maricopa County,” the email added. “The SOS has talked to the voter, informed Maricopa County, and referred the report to the DOJ and AG’s offices for further investigation.”

The voter, whose name is redacted in a copy of the complaint Solis shared with The Daily Beast, submitted an online complaint Oct. 17 at 7:28 p.m., saying the alleged incident had taken place roughly 50 minutes earlier.

 

“There’s a group of people hanging out near the ballot dropbox filming and photographing my wife and I as we approached the dropbox and accusing us of being a mule,” the complaint stated. “They took a photographs of our license plate and of us and then followed us out the parking lot in one of their cars continuing to film.”

Arizona Secretary of State

Meanwhile, the QAnon-linked founder of an organization recently seen staking out drop boxes in Maricopa is distancing herself from the suspect, claiming she doesn’t “know who he is.”

Early voting for the 2022 midterm elections is underway in Arizona, where ballot drop boxes have been in use since 2020, when they were introduced by 40 U.S. states as a way to help people vote safely for president as the COVID pandemic raged. There have been no reported cases of fraud, vandalism, or anything else that could have affected the outcome of the election that elevated Joe Biden to the Oval Office two years ago, according to an Associated Press survey of state election officials on both sides of the aisle.

However, the right-wing continues to allege widespread election fraud due to drop boxes, a debunked claim first floated publicly by former President Donald Trump and amplified by people like conservative firebrand Dinesh D’Souza, whose discredited documentary 2,000 Mules put forth bogus claims that Democratic operatives had stuffed unmonitored ballot boxes with phony votes.

Since then, conservative extremist groups—as well as Trump-endorsed politicians running for elected office—have called on members and supporters to stake out drop boxes around the country, with Arizona having become a particular hotspot. Officials have raised concerns about the potential for voter intimidation, as box-watchers fan out nationwide.

@TrumperMel via Truth Social

Last Saturday, Clean Elections USA founder Melody Jennings, a minister who has namechecked QAnon during appearances on indicted Trump adviser Steve Bannon’s webcast, said she had volunteers “ready to go” not just in Arizona, but in 17 other states, as well.

“We’ve got people out there, on the ground and doing the work,” Jennings told Bannon, explaining that her “people” were stationed “around the box with iPhones, with, you know, Androids, with your own cameras, which is legal, by the way, we can video and we can take pictures.”

Clean Elections USA began watching drop boxes during the primaries this past summer, which Jennings, who goes by “TrumperMel” online, trumpeted on Truth Social, the floundering social network Trump backed after being banned from Twitter. This served as a sort of “dry run” for the midterms, Jennings said.

 

 

 

Clean Elections USA via Truth Social

Jennings, in social media posts, has asked for “10 people in groups around every drop box! Not 2 people. That’s not a deterrent. Bring lights, food, lawn chairs, play cards, (no music) Video, take pics. Don’t talk to them. Abide by the laws.”

On Monday, Jennings took to Truth Social with an urgent request.

“All Arizona patriots get to either the Mesa box or the Phoenix box …the only 2 that are outdoors… Right now,” she wrote. “There are mules getting there and doing their thing even with my people there.”

The next evening, Jennings posted a blurry photo of what she claimed was a “mule” caught in the act at a drop box in Mesa, which is part of Maricopa County.

“This guy. Drove in backwards to avoid plate detection,” she alleged. Got out showing his back. Pulled ballots out of his shirt. I need people there tonight to help my people. Lots of you!”

@TrumperMel via Truth Social

But Jennings insists that the drop box-watcher referred by Katie Hobbs to law enforcement authorities has nothing to do with her.

“The individual they speak of is not associated with Clean Elections USA in any way,” Jennings told The Daily Beast on Thursday. “Never was a member of Clean Elections USA. I don’t know who he is.”

Other drop box-watching groups in Arizona have reportedly changed their minds about the idea, such as the Lions of Liberty, a self-described “resolute nucleus of concerned, passionate conservative patriots who are determined to correct the course of our country which has been hijacked and undermined by global elites, communists, leftists, deep state bureaucrats, and fake news.”

They had dozens of observers in Yavapai County ready to mobilize last week for their “Operation Drop Box” initiative, but reportedly called things off after receiving a cease and desist letter from the nonprofit Protect Democracy, which alleged voter intimidation.

“We’re moving forward with it, in name and slight practice,” Lions of Liberty leader Luke Cilano told 3TV/CBS 5. “When I’m out and about driving around, I swing by and watch a box from a distance.”

Reports of potential voter intimidation by drop box-watchers in Arizona were first brought up at an Oct. 13 news conference by Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer. There are cameras monitoring Maricopa’s two drop boxes, according to Richer, who did not identify the offending group by name.

“Any attempt to deter, intimidate a lawful voter is unlawful, should be immediately reported, please to us, but also law enforcement,” Richer said.

Richer, a Republican, has received death threats for not going along with Donald Trump’s “Big Lie.” In August, a Missouri public school employee was indicted on federal charges for telling Richer in a 2021 voicemail, in part, “You need to do your fucking job right because other people from other states are watching your ass. You fucking renege on this deal or give them any more troubles, your ass will never make it to your next little board meeting.”