After yard sign incident, anonymous flier, should KC-area Trump supporters worry?
Two alleged incidents targeting Kansas City Trump supporters made national ripples this past week.
The admittedly outspoken and contentious Republican stalwart Dwight Sutherland was hospitalized Oct. 12 after he said he confronted a driver trying to damage or steal a Trump campaign sign outside his Mission Hills home. Police now say they do not believe he was assaulted.
Days later, American Conservative Union Chairman Matt Schlapp mentioned the encounter — also chronicled on several websites — and tweeted an image of an anonymous flier threatening Kansas City Trump voters with the arson of their homes if the president doesn’t concede the election.
What exactly happened in Mission Hills remains in dispute: Friends say that after a brief interaction with the driver in his yard, Sutherland was hit when the driver returned. It may have been a glancing blow, but enough to spin him to the ground and perhaps cause heart complications that had him in the ICU.
A Prairie Village police spokesman said the initial report of an aggravated battery was changed to mere criminal damage after they decided there was no assault.
Sutherland would no doubt argue there was, but has been advised not to talk about it.
Third Congressional District GOP nominee Amanda Adkins, whose sign also was in Sutherland’s yard, tweeted her support for him.
As for the flier — identical to letters that have shown up at Trump-supporting homes elsewhere in the country — it warns that, “You have been identified by our group as being a Trump supporter. Your address has been added into our database as a target for when we attack should Trump not concede the election. We recommend that you check your home insurance policy and make (sure) that it is current and that it has adequate coverage for fire damage. You have been given ‘Fair Warning.’”
Both the U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Missouri and the Kansas City Police Department acknowledge being aware of the flier, with police saying they are investigating.
While the police department reported late Tuesday that it had no knowledge of the flier being received by anyone in Kansas City, it has circulated in the area on social media.
Still, other tales of being intimidated have come across my desk from area Republicans who feel they must be careful not to display their support for the president. Paige Harding, president of the University of Kansas College Republicans, said one person posted, “If I ever see you in person, I’ll run you over in my car.”
Whether such claims are real threats or not, there can be no doubt that perceived intimidation is driving some support for Trump underground.
“I am repeatedly told by individuals that they will never put up Trump signs in particular, but even Republican signs in general, because they fear being attacked or having their property damaged,” says Kansas Republican Chair Mike Kuckelman. “My Trump sign is rarely in my yard after dark because I am confident it will be damaged or destroyed.
“I talk to Trump supporters almost every day that tell me they are intimidated and will not openly support him for fear of what might come to them.”
Maybe that shouldn’t come as any surprise, after Rep. Maxine Waters, a Democrat from California, in 2018 exhorted followers to dog Trump Cabinet members in public: “If you see anybody from that Cabinet in a restaurant, in a department store, at a gasoline station, you get out, and you create a crowd. And you push back on them. And you tell them they’re not welcome anymore, anywhere.”
Such talk filters down.
Folks on both sides of the political chasm need to ratchet down the rhetoric and put a halt to the hatred.
Sensibilities, and sometimes lives, are on the line.
