School boards and county commission boards across the country have seen an influx of deranged community members peddling delusional conspiracy theories and even threatening violence in protest of mask mandates in schools and hysteria over critical race theory.
One woman in Kansas said at a county commissioners meeting that members would be "tried for crimes against humanity" for mandating masks in schools, absurdly claiming there was "zero evidence that COVID-19 exists in the world." In Pennsylvania, a GOP gubernatorial candidate vowed to storm school boards with "20 strong men" in order to "remove" them from their posts. In Virginia, a school board meeting was declared an unlawful assembly after attendees grew increasingly belligerent.
These are but a few instances in an overwhelming pattern of intimidation and menacing toward school board members, and this week, the Department of Justice announced that it would be investigating violent threats against school board members.
Attorney General Merrick Garland said:
"Threats against public servants are not only illegal, they run counter to our nation's core values. Those who dedicate their time and energy to ensuring that our children receive a proper education in a safe environment deserve to be able to do their work without fear for their safety."
Given that he raised his fist in solidarity with Trump supporters just hours before they stormed the United States Capitol in a deadly failed insurrection, it may not come as a surprise that far-right Senator Josh Hawley of Missouri is now vocally opposed to the Justice Department's effort to suppress violent threats against public servants.
Hawley put his hysteria over critical race theory on full display, saying to the Department:
"All around the country, Americans are speaking out against the radical racist ideology sometimes called 'critical race theory.' Americans have responded to this radical ideology by winning elections for local school boards and protesting peacefully at school board meetings. Yet your memo yesterday to the FBI and local U.S. Attorneys ignored all of this and warned of an insurgence of 'threats of violence' and 'efforts to intimidate individuals based on their views.'"
Now, a new supercut from MSNBC's Chris Hayes highlights the rampant right-wing intimidation on display at school board meetings, countering Hawley's claim that these threats of violence are overblown.
Watch below.
Hey @HawleyMO, just circling back to see if you saw the threats to school officials across the country. We made a montage for you in case you didn\u2019t.pic.twitter.com/6OSROrY3Bq— All In with Chris Hayes (@All In with Chris Hayes) 1633482245
Interspersed with Hawley's comments at a recent Senate committee hearing invoking images of DOJ targeting peaceful parents politely expressing their views, the supercut showed clip after clip of the opposite.
For one example, a community member said to a school board official:
"We know who you are. You can leave freely, but we will find you and we know who you are."
Hawley painted DOJ's efforts as a "deliberate attempt to chill parents from showing up at school board meetings," accusing the Justice Department of attempting to "intimidate" and "silence" them.
The video showed that was the other way around.
Watch. Retweet. When there\u2019s no accountability for those who encouraged and supporting a mob that attacked our Capitol, you get this behavior from Hawley. But thank you @chrislhayes for providing these receipts.https://twitter.com/allinwithchris/status/1445555425416384518\u00a0\u2026— Sherrilyn Ifill (@Sherrilyn Ifill) 1633521426
Josh Hawley (@HawleyMO) is a dishonest, disingenuous demagogue who consistently places his own opportunism above the interests of the nation.https://twitter.com/allinwithchris/status/1445555425416384518\u00a0\u2026— Keith Boykin (@Keith Boykin) 1633526559
Shorter Josh Hawley: If we can't have widespread threats of violence against school administrators none of us can truly be free. Dr King said that.https://twitter.com/allinwithchris/status/1445555425416384518\u00a0\u2026— Josh Marshall (@Josh Marshall) 1633547055
Whether you\u2019re making death threats at school board meetings or in the Capitol Rotunda, Josh Hawley will pretend you\u2019re being civil if he thinks you might eventually vote for him to be POTUS one day. \n\nSo what if a few people get killed along the road to his ferocious ambitions?https://twitter.com/allinwithchris/status/1445555425416384518\u00a0\u2026— Mrs. Betty Bowers (@Mrs. Betty Bowers) 1633530081
A liar, hypocrite & Traitor the Essenes of a Trump Q Republican Troll.https://twitter.com/allinwithchris/status/1445555425416384518\u00a0\u2026— jespanol (@jespanol) 1633518460
Nor had people forgotten about his ideological support for the Capitol rioters.
Josh Hawley objected to Congress's certification of 2020 election after domestic terrorists failed to stop the count, so giving in to terrorism is kind of his thing.https://twitter.com/allinwithchris/status/1445555425416384518\u00a0\u2026— Sarah Reese Jones (@Sarah Reese Jones) 1633542194
The thing about @HawleyMO is that he doesn\u2019t not know the violence exists he knows and he welcomes it. We saw that on January 6th and we\u2019re seeing it again now.https://twitter.com/allinwithchris/status/1445555425416384518\u00a0\u2026— Danny Stark (@Danny Stark) 1633545839
Why isn\u2019t traitor @HawleyMO in jail for leading an insurrection? I\u2019ll never forget that raised fist in solidarity with the other traitors.https://twitter.com/allinwithchris/status/1445555425416384518\u00a0\u2026— Wendi (@Wendi) 1633537468
REMINDER: Josh Hawley supported the seditious actions of January 6th rioters, so of course he opposes AG Merrick Garland's crackdown on the threats against school boards.\n\nRT LIKE CRAZY to make sure everyone sees Hawley's hypocrisy!https://twitter.com/allinwithchris/status/1445555425416384518\u00a0\u2026— Really American \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8 (@Really American \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8) 1633533301
