Liberty or Else! The Violent Visual of Moms for Liberty's Political Rhetoric

Unless you hitched a ride to Mars on one of Space Karen's explody rockets last week, you most certainly heard that a thing happened on Saturday. Admittedly, I wasn't fully prepared for MAGA's hysterical reaction to the assassination attempt, mainly because these are the same people who shrugged off the January 6th violent and deadly attack on the U.S. Capitol as being "mostly peaceful."

I was going to turn that into a Pepperidge Farms meme, but at some point, it just seems mean.

Anyway, in the hours after Saturday's "mostly peaceful" assassination attempt, the Alaska Republican Party's right-wing attack blog Must Read Alaska quickly pointed fingers at President Biden and Democrats. They claimed that Democrats accurately labeling Donald Trump as an authoritarian and fascist was dangerous political rhetoric that put a bullseye on Trump. That argument, by the way, went out the window after this happened.

And as a reminder, back in 2019, just four days after a white 21-year-old posted an anti-immigrant manifesto with pro-white nationalist themes on 8chan and then used a WASR-10 rifle to murder 22 people at a Texas Walmart in a racist attack, it was Trump who asserted, "I think my rhetoric brings people together."

Missing from Republicans' narrative is the long list of violent rhetoric Trump has espoused over the years or his and Don Jr's mocking of the heinous hammer attack on Paul Pelosi. Not one prominent Republican politician has denounced videos of conservatives violently and most gleefully kicking and punching a mannequin in the image of President Joe Biden. You'll note that the mannequin is dressed in a Let's Go Brandon shirt, which loosely translates as "Fuck Joe Biden."

Curiously, Republicans haven't even mentioned Trump's March incitement of political violence when he shared a photograph to his QAnon-infested Truth Social Media platform depicting a hog-tied President Biden on the back of some sicko's pickup truck.

It seems we have a dangerous double standard at play.

Having faced our local merry band of hardcore right-wing lunatics who made death threats against assembly and school board members—and sent me emails stating I needed to be "shot dead" and who continue to publicly call for me to be treated as a "terrorist," I feel pretty confident saying that it's the far-right driving violent political rhetoric in Anchorage.

Liberty or Else!

Case in point: Moms for Liberty is about as extreme of a hate group as you can get. If you don't believe me, take a look at this insane graphic of Moms for Liberty Anchorage Chapter Chair Gabby Ide adorned with scripture, which the Alaska Family Council sent to their email list on July 10th, just days before the attack on former President Trump.

The graphic is sick—more than suggesting physical violence will be carried out against anyone who stands in their way of installing a far-right Christian Nationalist agenda aimed at eliminating LGBTQ+ and BIPOC voices and passing discriminatory policies that seek to erase marginalized communities in our schools.

Look at the whole email.

The Biblical quote infers that they have the moral high ground, suggesting that kindness to their "enemies" is a form of righteous action. But even if you can wrap your brain around the reality that Moms for Liberty and Jim Minnery's Alaska Family Council see people who disagree with them as "enemies," they juxtapose the quote with Ide beating the shit out of another woman.

"Say it again...I will not take away people's liberties."

Or what?

I understand that the goalposts have shifted since it was reported that the would-be assassin was a registered Republican, but isn't this precisely the violent political rhetoric MAGA has taken a sudden interest in denouncing?

I eagerly await all politicians aligned with Moms for Liberty—Rep. David Eastman, Lt. Governor Nancy Dahlstrom, Alaska Attorney General Treg Taylor, State Senate candidate Jared Goecker, State House candidate Jubilee Underwood, and U.S. House candidate Nick Begich III—to swiftly and unequivocally denounce this violent political rhetoric. Their silence would be a tacit endorsement of aggression and intimidation in our political discourse, which, according to MAGA, they now believe to be entirely unacceptable.

While we wait (don't hold your breath), Jim Minnery should issue a public apology for promoting such hateful imagery and Gabby Ide should immediately resign as Chapter Chair of Moms for Liberty Anchorage. They won't, though, and that means parents should take to the polls in November and vote against any Moms for Liberty-aligned candidate because entrusting them with any influence over our public schools is a direct threat to the safety and well-being of children.