Apparently, 2019 refuses to have any chill. You’d think that with it being one of the last weeks of the year, the holidays coming up and your boy having to work through the disappointment that was The Rise of Skywalker that the wilding could at least come to a temporary halt. Yeah, nah.
NPR reported on Friday that an independent report commissioned by the Washington State House of Representatives found that as leader of the Patriot Movement, Rep. Matt Shea, “planned, engaged in and promoted a total of three armed conflicts of political violence against the United States government.” Not only that, he apparently was instrumental in helping train young people (white men, let’s be real) to fight in what he labeled a “holy war.” Going so far as to create a pamphlet called Biblical Basis for War that called for replacing democracy with a theocracy and “the killing of all males who do not agree.”
The report also detailed chat messages where Shea encouraged the intimidation of his opponents, activists, government officials and of course, Muslims because you can’t spell trash Republican without Islamophobia. After the release of the report Shea was suspended from the House Republican Caucus, with Washington State House Minority Leader Rep. J.T Wilcox calling for his resignation.
Since men like Shea are typically lacking in self-awareness, humility or any sense of shame it should come as no surprise he refuses to resign. In a lengthy Facebook Post he states “I will not back down, I will not give it, I will not resign.” Do all these dudes read the same book on psuedo-patriotism? They commit acts that undermine the safety and security of the land they swore to serve and then turn around talking about “I’m a goddamn patriot, it’s the liberal, deep-state, corrupt media that’s the REAL villain.” The comments on his post are of unwavering support so the playbook is working as usual.
Through a two-thirds majority vote, the House could remove Shea from office. Though, as Crosscut reports, it has only happened once in the Washington Legislature’s entire history.