Over the last decade, Mainers have withstood an onslaught of attacks on our constitutional rights, especially those protected by the Second Amendment. These attacks, while well-funded by out of state special interests, have all been defeated thanks in large part to Mainers’ undeniable ability to reach out to one another and form broad coalitions across party lines in true grassroots activism. With new tactics on the rise, however, we must be vigilant.
The new strategy of the left is to attack our right to free speech by using fear and intimidation to get every day folks so scared to speak up that it will appear they don’t exist.
They have a weapon that I will call “the Mob,” and it is fueled by hate and dark money. This Mob lies in the weeds watching everything you say, everything you post on the internet, which posts you like, what you tweet, everything you do, and who you associate with, just waiting for something they can use against you when the time is right.
When you say something the Mob doesn’t like, they will try to get you fired. They will go after your employment, your friends, your family, your livelihood. They have paid enforcers who do this for a living—paid to create a culture of fear and intimidation in hopes your voices will be silent. They are rewarded based on how many people they scare, and they are assisted by the mainstream media.
Last year, an IHOP waitress in Auburn started asking customers who ordered over $100 of food to pre-pay because they had a rash of people walking out on their checks. She happened to ask this of some customers from another country, and the Mob was watching. The Mob took to Facebook to accuse her of racism and The Lewiston Sun Journal immediately pounced and encouraged the Mob, spreading these vicious lies. Soon the story went national and this waitress began receiving threats.
Eventually, the Mob and the lying media caused this single mother to lose her job. The Mob celebrated. That’s right, they celebrated a single mother losing her job that she counted on to feed her children.
I know about the Mob because this last spring they went after me and my family. After a promptly deleted three-word tweet was seized by the media that works together with these dark money groups, I was called a racist, a bigot and misogynist by the Mob on social media. They called my employer demanding I lose my job. The media sent reporters to my workplace to harass my co-workers. They printed stories that cited both a Maine People’s Alliance website and anonymous people on the internet.
After separating from my long-time employer, they came after my job as Mayor of Waterville, where this hatred went on full display. Paid enforcers descended on the streets of Waterville, harassing our elderly, our veterans, and calling our citizens racist to get them to vote me out of office.
Vile things were sent to my wife, ads were taken out, and thousands of dollars were spent. The Morning Sentinel aided their efforts and dispatched reporters to my house to disrespectfully confront me in front of my family. Political parties joined. The Mob and the media went all in.
They said if I just apologized and submitted to them, it would go away. Knowing the truth, I instead went on offense, exposed their hatred and defended my residents against it; and we won because my neighbors, family, and friends—even folks who disagree with me—rallied to defend me.
More recently, we’ve seen what the Mob did to Sen. Susan Collins. They organized telephone calls that threatened to sexually assault her staff and other forms of violence. They mailed in boxes of coat hangers and stormed her offices. This type of behavior is totally out of bounds.
The way to defeat these hate groups is to rally behind anyone and everyone they target. It doesn’t matter if the target is someone who didn’t vote the way you wanted them to in the past. Defend them against the Mob.
The one thing that threatens them is people with differences coming together and building coalitions to fight this new bolshevism.
These forces refuse to accept the results of our elections and refuse to acknowledge the rule of law. Instead, they resort to the fear, intimidation and hate.
Commit to yourselves that you will defend the next victim of these hate groups, whether it be a Democrat, a Republican, a friend, a foe, even a neighbor you disagree with from time to time. Defend them.
Be smart, but never be silent. The one thing they fear more than a silent majority, is a vocal one.