Allowing elected officials and government workers to be intimidated into resigning is how fascism slowly wins
A little more than six months ago, the town of Bennington, Vermont, paid $137,500 to Kiah Morris and apologized publicly for failing to protect her and her family from racist threats and harassment. It took these steps following a report by the town’s human rights commission finding that the Bennington police department had discriminated against them on the basis of her race. Morris was the only Black woman serving in the Vermont statehouse until she resigned in 2018, after years of harassment from local white supremacists.
In Michigan, a self-styled militia called the Wolverine Watchmen was caught last October by federal authorities while it was deep in plans to kidnap the state’s Democratic governor, Gretchen Whitmer. Thirteen men, all white, most in their 20s and 30s were charged, six with federal conspiracy to kidnap, commit domestic terrorism and owning and operating weapons of mass destruction; and eight with state charges related to supplying material support for terrorism, felony gang activity and weapons violations. Nina Burleigh, who is writing a book about the group, details their story here. The kidnapping plot, she notes, was “just an extreme example of the menace aimed at elected women in Michigan, where females hold the three top elected positions.”
Michigan’s Attorney General Dana Nessel told Burleigh that she personally has thought about resigning due to the threats that she and her family have experienced from militant anti-lockdown protestors and militia types. Nessel said, “We track threats, and we prosecute threats against other public officeholders. It’s [U.S. Senator] Debbie Stabenow, it’s [Representative] Elissa Slotkin, it’s [female] judges that have ruled on election-law cases. Same thing in the legislature. You see threats against [state] Senator Sylvia Santana, threats against [state] Representative Cynthia Johnson — and you don’t typically see those types of threats against their male counterparts.”
A few days ago, The New York Times headlined a story about the rising tide of violent threats against public officials, “Menace Enters the Republican Mainstream.” For once, the paper of record didn’t “both-sides” a political story, or deflect what is happening into another instance of “political polarization.” Violent threats against lawmakers in Congress are on track to double this year, the Times reported. The source of much of the shift, of course, is former President Donald Trump, who began welcoming political violence against his opponents back in 2015, when he urged attendees at his rallies to beat up protestors. School board members, public health officials and local election administrators are all reporting more harassment, leading many to leave or considering leaving public service. Women and people of color are especially vulnerable, as these examples from Vermont and Michigan show.
Unfortunately, many police departments and local courts don’t know what to do about these threats, since they may appear to be protected political speech. However, as this in-depth story by Reuters shows, often local cops haven’t even investigated. For that story, Reuters managed to track down and interview nine people who have made threats or left hostile messages for election workers; “seven made threats explicit enough to put a reasonable person in fear of bodily harm or death, the U.S. federal standard for criminal prosecution, according to four legal experts who reviewed their messages at Reuters’ request.” None have been charged. Reuters has documented nearly 800 intimidating messages to election officials in 12 states, including more than 100 that could warrant prosecution.
The warning lights on the health of American democracy have been blinking red for several years now. In 2020, a massive effort by grass-roots organizers, civil society organizations, election administrators, government security experts, and philanthropists managed to ensure that the election went smoothly and the results were fairly and objectively counted. As these stories show, we aren’t just going to be tested again in 2022 and 2024; there is acid eating away at the underpinnings of democracy every day. When elected officials and other government workers are so intimidated that they resign their jobs, or choose to not run for re-election, we also have to wonder if others still serving are also holding back and not speaking out for fear of what might happen to them.
This is how fascism slowly wins. But there is an antidote, one reminiscent of the “broken windows” school of policing, which says that any sign of criminal disorder, such as vandalism or graffiti, shouldn’t be tolerated lest it embolden people to violate more serious laws. This is why today’s vote in the U.S. House of Representatives to censure Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ) for posting a video of him killing Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and assaulting President Biden was so important. We have to loudly respond to initial incidents of political intimidation and insist that local authorities not look the other way. A teenager who idly draws a swastika outside a synagogue isn’t just a misguided racist; they are also testing the waters as much as the rightwing nuts harassing Michigan’s women legislators. All of us are being tested now. Don’t look away.