When Americans return to their cars after shopping for groceries, it is not uncommon for them to find notes on their windshields. Enterprising people advertise car washes, bake sales, retail sales, and more. Sometimes, political campaigns will advertise for events in this way. Yet on Sunday, a Republican congresswoman returned to her car to find a different kind of note altogether.
As she went to put her groceries in the truck, Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) found a note with this message: “Rot in Hell, FASCIST PIG.”
Stefanik, undeterred, shared the hate message on Twitter.
“It is truly sad that the radical Far-Left cannot see beyond their vicious hate,” she lamented. “My husband and I went grocery shopping this morning before district events and enjoyed chatting with constituents throughout the store. This vile anonymous note was left on our car.”
It is truly sad that the radical Far-Left cannot see beyond their vicious hate.
My husband and I went grocery shopping this morning before district events and enjoyed chatting with constituents throughout the store.
This vile anonymous note was left on our car. pic.twitter.com/4K5OBN8qVj
— Elise Stefanik (@EliseStefanik) March 7, 2020
Some hateful coward must have known who Stefanik was and when to place the note before running away. How classy.
There’s also something inherently misogynistic in demonizing a woman by calling her a pig.
This message comes amid an upswing in political threats and violence against Republicans. Last week on Super Tuesday, a museum director expressed her hope that “every single one of you pieces of s**t that votes republican, dies today.” She apologized for that statement, but it illustrates the tragic level of political animus on the left. Also last week, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer threatened two Supreme Court justices, attempting to bully them into supporting abortion clinics.
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.
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 had 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.
Legacy media outlets and leftist interest groups routinely blame Donald Trump for a rising climate of “hate,” but they often ignore this rising animus against Republicans.
Thankfully, Stefanik only saw an angry note, a disgusting expression of hate but not a violent threat. Even so, this note illustrates the rising political hatred that Republicans and Democrats need to jointly oppose.
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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