OR. GOP Posted Tweet About"Heavily Armed Militia" is a fake.

Lawless GOP

Well, it appears I got trolled (along with many others) — the photo in the below tweet is of a peaceful loggers’ protest.

H/T to subtropolis in the comments.

But still, I think the intent of the tweet remains the same….

Uh, I don’t think this how democracy is supposed to work.

Heavily armed militia lays siege to Oregon's Capitol as Senate Democrats cower in fear. #orpol #orleg #capkillsjobs #hb2020 #Oregon11 #orcot pic.twitter.com/XQHCEb3D59

— Oregon GOP (@Oregon_GOP) June 23, 2019

For those who haven’t been following the story:

Huffington Post

“Oregon citizens and state troopers are keeping an eye peeled for AWOL Republican state senators who by being absent from their legislative jobs are stonewalling a vote on stricter pollution standards to battle climate change.

All 11 of the chamber’s GOP senators walked out of a legislative session Thursday and are in hiding to block passage of the historic bill. They don’t have the votes to stop it the old-fashioned, democratic way. The walkout leaves the Senate two people short of a required quorum before a vote can be held.

A rightwing militia group has vowed to “protect” the senators from any miffed voters — or police. A special legislative session had been planned Saturday but the Capitol building in Salem was shut down by law enforcement authorities as a safety precaution, Reuters reported.”

Whatabouters in the GOP and press will try to draw analogies to this action and the 2011 case when 14 Democrats absconded from Wisconsin to slow a vote in it’s GOP dominated legislature designed to do away with unions’ collective bargaining rights.

The difference there being that the Union Protests in Madison that year preceded the flight of the Democrats and were armed with placards, not semi-automatic weapons.

This move by the Oregon GOP is but a precursor, I fear, of Republican tactics as their rule-by-minority plots inevitably unravel.

And I’m not the only one with this fear:

Here’s a state Republican Party endorsing countermajoritarian violent intimidation to achieve a political end. https://t.co/hqFanaPkf4

— southpaw (@nycsouthpaw) June 23, 2019

Is this our future?

GOP + Armed Militias > Democracy

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[cross-posted to PolitiZoom]