In the past week, two separate men have been arrested for reportedly making recent death threats against Republican Sens. Tommy Tuberville and Rep. Jim Banks. The week prior, another man was arrested for earlier threats he made against Republican Sen. Thom Tillis and former Sen. Richard Burr. Yet, as of midday on Wednesday, searches for the lawmakers’ names on the websites of MSNBC, ABC, CBS, The New York Times, and The Washington Post returned no recent results about the developments.
Last month, 66-year-old Brian Landry of New Hampshire allegedly threatened to murder Sen. Tuberville, and was just arrested by law enforcement. He claimed to be a “veteran sniper” and reportedly left a voicemail saying “Unless you change your ways, I got my scope pointed in your direction, and I’m coming to get you.”
In April, 33-year-old Aaron Thompson allegedly asked Rep. Banks in a voicemail whether he wanted his “daughters [to] grow up without their dad, or [to] grow old without [his] daughters.” Thompson was charged this past week with a felony by Indiana prosecutors.
In its coverage of Landry’s arrest for death threats against Sen. Tuberville, The Guardian failed to mention the senator’s party affiliation or even his name until the eighth paragraph, referring vaguely to a “US Senator” in the headline. But when Democrat Rep. Ilhan Omar received threats, her party affiliation and the Republican Party’s alleged “anti-Muslim hatred” were featured in the title and subhead of the outlet’s coverage and repeated ad nauseam in the ensuing paragraphs.
Threats against members of Congress, in general, have been increasing in recent years, as reports have consistently shown.
Legacy media outlets have no problem proclaiming the potential dangers posed to some Democrat legislators in Facebook posts “liked” by Rep. Majorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., but downplay murder plots and intimidation campaigns against figures like Supreme Court Justices Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett.
The media frenzied about a man who disgustingly sexualized Rep. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez, D-N.Y., on the steps of the United States Capitol. But when Ted Cruz, R-Texas, was accosted at a D.C. restaurant with his family, his controversial support for then-nominee Brett Kavanaugh was cited as an excuse.
When threats come from the right, media opine about the GOP’s “violence problem.” When they come from the left, however, the fault apparently lies with “both sides.”
