Local Libertarian Party Doubles Down After Violent Harris Threat

On Sunday, before the attempted assassination of Donald Trump, the Libertarian Party of New Hampshire celebrated the prospect of political violence against Vice President Kamala Harris.

“Anyone who murders Kamala Harris would be an American hero,” the party wrote on X, before receiving swift backlash and deleting the post. Later that day, the party published a follow-up, announcing that it “deleted a tweet because we don’t want to break the terms of this website we agreed to” and claiming that libertarians are “the most oppressed minority.”

On Tuesday, the account released a lengthier additional follow-up, insisting that the original tweet did not call for Harris’s assassination but “merely acknowledg[ed] how some members would react to one.”

But the newest post somehow made things worse, referring to historical instances of violence that were supposedly “necessary to advance or protect freedom,” including the assassination of “past tyrants like Abraham Lincoln.” Further, it stated that “it’s good when authoritarians” (that is, “progressives, socialists, and democrats”) are made to “feel unsafe or uncomfortable,” which the account’s provocative posts “are frequently explicitly intended” to do.

On Sunday, Libertarian Party presidential candidate Chase Oliver condemned the post as “abhorrent.” The Libertarian Party of New Hampshire replied by calling him a homophobic slur.

On X, New York Times opinion writer and libertarian Jane Coaston criticized the provocative state party as repellent and noxious to its purported cause: “Like if the Libertarian Party of New Hampshire were a CIA plot to destroy the Libertarian Party writ large what would they be doing differently.”

Donald Trump’s campaign published a list Monday of people that it appears to blame for the recent assassination attempt against the former president. The list did not include the actual assassin, but rather a slate of statements from journalists and Democratic politicians.

“Make no mistake—this psycho was egged on by the rhetoric and lies that have flowed from Kamala Harris, Democrats, and their Fake News allies for years,” read the campaign’s statement.

Trump—who has been accused of interfering with the 2020 presidential election, called his political enemies “vermin,” promised to imprison his opponents, vowed to begin the largest deportations in the history of the United States, and spread racist lies about Haitian immigrants eating cats and dogs—is now accusing the other side of going too far by … pointing out that he did any of these things.

Statements from Harris appeared on the list three times, and President Joe Biden six times. The campaign wrote that Harris had repeatedly called Trump “a threat to our democracy and fundamental freedoms.”

The list also included statements from politicians such as Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, with a link to him speaking about “weird” MAGA Republicans. “Are they a threat to democracy? Yes,” said Walz. “Are they going to take our rights away? Yes. Are they going to put people’s lives in danger? Yes.”

It also inexplicably listed Walz’s wife, Gwen, who had simply said, “Buh-bye, Donald Trump,” during a rally—not quite the threat Trump’s team are pretending it is. But the kind of magical thinking on display in this list is certainly in line with Trump’s victim complex, which predated any failed attempt on his life.

Representatives Nancy Pelosi, Adam Schiff, and “Top Harris surrogate Liz Cheney” were among more than two dozen other Democrats who had, at one point or another, called Trump a threat.

Trump’s campaign also claimed that any journalist who honestly reported on his blatant use of extremist rhetoric—which has incited violence time and time again—was actually guilty of inciting violence against him.

The campaign included snippets of “deplorable commentary“ from journalists and news outlets covering Trump’s second attempted assassination. The campaign’s decision to identify journalists by name shifted the purpose of its list, not to a round-up of statements but a list of political targets.

The campaign included NBC’s Lester Holt, who said that the “apparent assassination attempt comes amid increasingly fierce rhetoric on the campaign trail” and cited the “baseless claims” of the Republican ticket. It’s unclear what Trump’s team found objectionable about this particular phrasing of facts.

The campaign listed MSNBC’s Alex Witt, who merely questioned whether the Trump campaign might consider toning down its rhetoric in response to the near violence.

The list included several other journalists by name, from The Bulwark, The Washington Post, Meidas Touch News, The Atlantic, and New York magazine. Each observation by an outlet seemed more self-evident than the last. At one point, the campaign seemed to take issue with NBC News referring to the assassination attempt as the “golf course incident.”

“Democrats and the Fake News must immediately cease their inflammatory, violent rhetoric against President Trump—which was mimicked by yesterday’s would-be [assassin],” wrote the campaign. “President Trump said it best: ‘Because of this Communist Left Rhetoric, the bullets are flying, and it will only get worse!’”

If what’s happened in Springfield, Ohio, is anything to go by, attacks from the former president’s mouth seem to sprout bomb threats. It’s clear that Trump doesn’t care about any of that (he said as much on Friday). Instead, the former president is taking the opportunity to continue painting targets on the back of anyone who says something he doesn’t like—and the repercussions could be dangerous.

A local Ohio sheriff has thrown himself into electoral politics, suggesting in a social media post last week that his constituents send him the personal addresses of locals with Kamala Harris’s campaign signs in their yards.

Portage County Sheriff Bruce Zuchowski issued the missive on Facebook Friday, referring to the vice president as a “Flip-Flopping, Laughing Hyena.”

“I say … write down all the addresses of the people who had her signs in their yards!” Zuchowski wrote. “Sooo … when the Illegal human ‘Locust’ (which she supports!) Need places to live … We’ll already have the addresses of their New families … who supported their arrival!”

The post was seemingly made in reference to a virulent conspiracy theory spread by top Republicans, including Donald Trump and J.D. Vance, about Haitian migrants eating other residents’ pets in Springfield, Ohio—roughly 200 miles away from Zuchowski’s district.

People in the area were infuriated by Zuchowski’s post, including local Republican leadership, one of whom—Portage County Commissioner Tony Badalamenti—resigned in protest from the county’s Republican Central Committee. Badalamenti said in a Facebook video that “this is not the leadership I want to be part of.”

“[Zuchowski] posted that we should all copy down the addresses of the people that display political signs which are different from our beliefs,” Badalamenti said. “It scares people. It’s called bullying, from the highest law enforcement official in Portage County.”

Springfield shut down two of its elementary schools Monday, while two local colleges switched to all-virtual classes and activities. The city also canceled its annual CultureFest due to safety concerns.

The city saw even more closures last week. Springfield evacuated two elementary schools and closed a middle school on Friday after receiving information from the Springfield Police Division. The day before, several other schools and a significant portion of Springfield’s government facilities—including City Hall, the Bureau of Motor Vehicles, the Ohio License Bureau, the Springfield Academy of Excellence, and Fulton Elementary School—were shut down due to bomb threats.

Multiple city officials and Ohio Governor Mike DeWine have stated in no uncertain terms that the conspiracy is false.

Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts knows that Justice Samuel Alito’s antics and ideology are getting out of hand—and that’s why he’s taking care to protect him from the public eye.

The New York Times reports that Roberts had initially assigned Alito to write the majority opinion in a case ruling that prosecutors overreached by charging some January 6 rioters with obstruction of justice in April. But in May, Roberts took over the opinion himself, only four days after revelations that an upside-down U.S. flag, a symbol of the “Stop the Steal” movement, was displayed outside Alito’s home soon after the January 6 attack.

Switching authors on a Supreme Court opinion is unusual, the Times reported, citing court experts, and furthermore, Roberts had already written majority opinions in seven of the high court’s opinions during the term. It’s unclear whether Roberts’s decision was related to the flag incident, and none of the nine Supreme Court justices responded to the newspaper for comment.

Such an unusual occurrence on the court will raise suspicions, though, especially as Roberts keeps rejecting efforts on Supreme Court ethics reform. Despite Roberts’s conservatism, he has been a more moderate voice compared to his right-wing peers, and has voiced concerns about the legacy and image of the Supreme Court. But that didn’t stop him from ruling in favor of Donald Trump on the issue of presidential immunity, dramatically expanding the privileges of the presidency and limiting its accountability.

In the Times’ writing, Roberts perhaps thought that his immunity ruling would be seen as persuasive and nonpartisan. But the backlash to the decision demonstrated the opposite effect, with criticism over the Supreme Court essentially preventing Trump from experiencing any consequences for his actions.

Roberts’s move could indicate that there are cracks in the solidarity among the Supreme Court’s six conservative justices. Or it could just be the chief justice scrambling to protect the court’s public image, which has taken massive hits thanks to various ethics scandals as well as unpopular rulings, such as the presidential immunity case and the overturning of Roe v. Wade. Either way, on some level, even the chief justice has to know that the Supreme Court is not functioning as it should, and changes need to be made.

Donald Trump’s and J.D. Vance’s lies about Haitian immigrants have continued to create chaos in the city of Springfield, Ohio.

Two elementary schools in Springfield were evacuated Monday morning in response to bomb threats. Simon Kenton Elementary School and Kenwood Elementary School became the fifth and sixth Springfield buildings to be targeted by bomb threats in the last week.

On Friday, Perrin Woods and Snowhill Elementary were evacuated and Roosevelt Middle School was closed altogether.

The continued threats are a direct response to the right-wing hysteria around claims of immigrants eating their neighbors’ pets that are being churned out by the Republican ticket. There have been no credible reports of immigrants eating pets, and the racist rumors have been dispelled by Springfield City Manager Bryan Heck, Springfield Mayor Rob Rue, and Ohio Governor Mike DeWine.

The city announced Monday that it would cancel its annual CultureFest for the safety of its residents and visitors.

The FBI is investigating threats of a shooting and a bombing that were sent to Wittenberg University in Springfield over the weekend, which were specifically in response to Republicans’ outlandish claims about the immigrant population. On Monday, the university announced that classes would be held remotely and that all activities and sports were canceled for the day.

“Both messages targeted members of our local Haitian community,” said a statement from the university. “Wittenberg Police are cooperating with the Springfield Police Division and the FBI as they continue to investigate these threats, which follow similar threats made toward city offices, healthcare establishments, local schools, and other locations in the area.”

Clark State College, a nearby community college, also took “proactive measures” to keep its students safe and announced it would be going remote for the week.

The FBI’s Cincinnati field office said in a statement Sunday that they are “working in coordination with the Springfield police department and Wittenberg University to determine the credibility of recent threats, share information, and take appropriate investigative action.”

Over the weekend, two hospitals in Springfield went into lockdown after receiving bomb threats. Vance, who is an Ohio senator, had previously claimed that the city’s health facilities were “overwhelmed” by the city’s population of migrants and that the spread of communicable diseases such as tuberculosis and HIV were on the rise. This was after Ohio’s Department of Health director Bruce Vanderhoff said last Tuesday that Springfield has “not seen a measurable, discernible increase in vaccine-preventable illness.”

Despite the fact Vance admitted that he was using claims about migrants eating pets to raise the profile of his and Trump’s favorite bogeyman, undocumented immigration, to a national level, Vance balked at the idea that he was responsible for inciting the bomb threats against his own constituents, calling the suggestion “disgusting.”