As Texans headed to the polls on Super Tuesday, a museum director posted a message on Facebook expressing the hope that every person voting Republican would die that day. This threat comes amid a spate of politically-motivated violence, including a truck driver attempting to run down Republicans registering voters, a man sucker-punching a boy at a voting booth, and a man threatening Trump supporters with a cane sword.
“I hope every single one of you pieces of sh*t that votes republican, dies today,” Melonnie Hicks, director of the Pioneer City Museum in Sweetwater, Texas, posted on Facebook.
The museum’s board of directors will hold an emergency meeting after the horrifying statement, KTAB-TV/Big Country Homepage reported. Hicks reportedly apologized but has since deleted both the original post and the apology follow-up post.
Even so, screenshots of the Facebook post have gone viral on social media.
Twitter screenshot of since-deleted Facebook post.
It remains unknown if Hicks is still the director of the museum. The museum has refused to respond to multiple requests for comment from KTAB-TV. The Pioneer City County Museum even took down its Facebook page, and its latest Tweet came last month.
The museum’s board of directors will hold an emergency meeting at the Sweetwater Police Department at 5:30 p.m. on Friday to discuss the issue.
Sweetwater City Manager David Vela told KTAB-TV he believes Hicks’ Facebook message is reprehensible, especially for a city leader. The city funds a portion of the museum’s building.
KTAB-TV reached out to every board member for comment, but they declined, saying they won’t know anything until after Friday’s meeting.
Last month, a man crashed his van into a tent where Trump campaign volunteers were registering voters. That driver later confessed his animosity to Trump and compared the president to “someone s****ing on your grave.” Then a woman sucker-punched a man in a Nashville bar because he wore a MAGA-style hat reading “Make Fifty Great Again.” A Florida man charged at a group of Trump supporters, wielding a cane sword at them.
On Wednesday, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer threatened two Supreme Court justices, attempting to bully them into supporting abortion clinics.
Politically-motivated violence has tragically risen in recent years. In 2017, a man opened fire at the Republican congressional baseball game practice, nearly killing House Majority Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.)
In 2018, an angry man sucker-punched Minnesota state House candidate Shane Mekeland. Mekeland blamed Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.), former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and former Attorney General Eric Holder for instigating this kind of violence. “They’re constantly driving this narrative of ‘It’s okay to be violent,'” he told PJ Media.
Waters called for activists to harass members of the Trump administration in public places like gas stations and restaurants. Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.)encouraged activists to “get up in the face” of Republican candidates and office-holders. Hillary Clinton said Democrats “cannot be civil with a political party that wants to destroy what you stand for.” Eric Holder declared, “When they go low, we kick them.”
Democrats have also been targeted in bomb threats, but it seems the left is uniquely driven to violence, with leftists condemning Republicans as “Nazis” who deserve to be punched.
Republicans and Democrats need to condemn political violence and threats in all its forms.
Tyler O’Neil is the author of Making Hate Pay: The Corruption of the Southern Poverty Law Center. Follow him on Twitter at @Tyler2ONeil.
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