Four secretaries of state are speaking out about the threats they receive regularly simply for doing their jobs, thanks in large part to election denialism perpetuated by Donald Trump and members of the Republican Party. “Threats against elections officials in the United States of America is domestic terrorism. Terrorism is defined as a threat or violence for a political outcome.
That’s what this is,” Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes said on Meet the Press. He spoke as part of a panel of four secretaries of state who appeared on the show Sunday. Fontes added that he and other secretaries of state are collaborating with law enforcement and the Justice Department “to really start to address these things.
” He said he and his family have spoken to neighbors who can take care of their kids in case he needs to go into hiding and that he has “go bags” prepared. “It strikes me how so much of these tactics to try to delegitimize democracy, attack election officials,” said Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson . “It’s about instilling fear — instilling fear into us as professionals, in our local election officials, and instilling fear in voters.
” “It’s really scary when people show up with guns outside your home in the middle of the night and you’ve got a kid inside you’re trying to protect,” Benson added. Many of the threats against election officials are due to Trump’s false claims that the 2020 election was stolen from him. He has r.
