Rubio supporter (in green jacket) wrestling with protester dressed as robot - (YouTube screen grab)
Supporters of 2016 GOP presidential contender Marco Rubio roughed up two protesters in New Hampshire today who were mocking the candidate's performance at a recent GOP debate by dressing up as robots.
Rubio's appearances have been plagued by counter protesters dressed as robots, making fun of his much-derided debate appearance where he repeatedly invoked the same sound bite, leading critics to say he's an over-programmed and "glitchy" robot.
In video posted by Americans United, one man wearing a silvery suit and carrying a sign reading #RobotRubio is slammed with a sign by one Rubio supporter while another supporter of the Republican candidate grabbed him and put him in a headlock.
As supporters chanted "Marco, Marco!" in the background, the two men struggled, as the man in the robot suit can be heard saying, "Why do you have your hands on me?"
Realizing he's being photographed, the Rubio supporter abruptly released his captive as a sound-man appears to tell him, "You better knock that off."
The green-jacketed assailant then mixed back into the crowd of chanting fans and counter protesters, but was seen greeting Rubio when the candidate made an appearance.
On Twitter, another one of the men dressed as a robot posted photos of himself after he was pushed over into the snow:
On ground after they shoved me over https://t.co/H7Ema1rhPB
Kenosha County Supervisor Brian Thomas said the “election integrity” event he organized was “strictly educational,” and that the people in attendance would be able to learn what was up with the 2020 presidential election. “Good, bad or indifferent,” he declared.
In a Kenosha banquet hall, tucked next to the “world famous” Brat Stop — where out-of-state visitors can pick up their customary haul of cheese curds and Spotted Cow before crossing the border — near half a dozen fast food chains, a handful of car dealerships and a few roadside hotels, about 40 people came to hear what new details have been uncovered about the election.
Thomas, who was elected to the county board last month in a close election decided by 12 votes, had to briefly leave the Monday evening event to attend a public works committee meeting so he could cast a vote on a measure that would end a ban on bringing firearms into Kenosha County buildings.
“I don’t care who won [the 2020 election], I want elections fair going forward,” he said, before recommending the conspiracy-filled documentary produced by conservative activist Dinesh D’Souza “2000 Mules.” “You’re here because I’d hope you have an open mind and hear the other side of the story.”
The 2020 election was won by Joe Biden. Numerous audits, reviews, lawsuits and recounts have affirmed Wisconsin’s results.
Thomas said he thought there might be 100 people at the event, but after a bunch of people spammed the online sign-up he wasn’t sure if the estimate would be accurate. About 40 people actually attended, leaving some tables completely empty and others with just one or two people.
Between sips of a cocktail or tall pour of wine at the Parkway Chateau, what the attendees heard were theories that have been repeatedly debunked by election officials and news media. Just days after a symbolic resolution to decertify the state’s 2020 election results failed at the state Republican convention, a handful of the main characters in the ongoing saga to cast doubt on those results pledged to “keep the heat on.”
In attendance were state Sen. Van Wanggaard (R-Racine) and a staff member for U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson. Albert Gonzales, the Kenosha police officer who shot and killed Michael Bell in 2004 and is now running as a Republican for sheriff, was there. A campaign worker for U.S. Rep. Bryan Steil (R-Janesville) was outside collecting nominating signatures. Posters left on the tables featured the logo of Republican dark money group Turning Point USA.
“This is not political at all,” Thomas said, adding that he hoped the couple dozen Democratic protesters outside would come in and learn something. They didn’t, staying outside near the driveway holding signs promoting voting rights before marching to the building’s entrance.
“It’s just a bunch of crap,” said one, Milwaukee resident Sathena Gillespie. “It’s a bunch of crap. There’s been no facts.”
The event kicked off with a presentation from Ron Heuer, president of the Wisconsin Voter Alliance. Heuer filed a lawsuit attempting to overturn Joe Biden’s victory in 2020 and was later hired by former Supreme Court Justice Michael Gableman to aid the ongoing partisan review of the election.
Heuer played a number of video clips that have featured heavily in Gableman’s review.
In an appearance in front of the Assembly Committee on Campaigns and Elections earlier this spring, Gableman played clips featuring Erick Kardaal, an attorney for the conservative Thomas More Society, interviewing the elderly residents of nursing homes who cast votes in 2020 and their family members who don’t believe they should have voted. Neither the “evidence” that the elderly people were incompetent, nor their relatives’ opinions, matter in Wisconsin law, since a judge must decide that someone is incompetent before taking away their right to vote.
Wisconsin has a process laid out in state law for helping the residents of nursing homes and other residential care facilities cast a ballot. Two people, one Republican and one Democrat, are appointed as special voting deputies (SVDs) and along with an observer from each party, they go into the facilities to assist people with filling out and returning absentee ballots. The SVDs are required to make two attempts to visit a facility before a local municipal clerk can just mail them absentee ballots.
During the height of the pandemic, visitors weren’t allowed inside nursing homes to protect the especially vulnerable elderly residents, so the WEC voted to skip them. Republicans have repeatedly alleged that this decision violated the law.
On Monday, and in Gableman’s testimony in March, the videos were provided as evidence that elderly people were taken advantage of and forced to vote. Gableman claimed that many Wisconsin nursing homes had 100% turnout in 2020. Disability rights advocates pointed out that the interviews proved nothing about a person’s ability to vote and Gableman’s statistics have been debunked severaltimes.
After Heuer presented his videos, Kardall appeared by Zoom. Gableman’s Office of Special Counsel and the Thomas More Society share office space. Kaardal has also assisted Gableman’s review.
Heuer and Kardaal used the term “Zuckerbucks” nearly 20 times in an hour, rehashing Republican complaints that grants provided by the Center for Tech and Civic Life — an organization partially funded by Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg — to help municipalities across the country administer an election during a pandemic constitute bribery.
Municipalities across Wisconsin received grant money, but Republicans have complained that most of it went to the state’s five largest, majority Democratic cities, and believe it was used to increase turnout among Democrats. Judges have repeatedly disagreed with the accusation that the grants, which largely funded the purchase of absentee ballot drop boxes, voting machines, COVID protections and staff training, constituted bribery.
Last week, a Dane County judge told Kardaal his bribery accusations were “ridiculous,” yet Kardaal continued to make the same case on Monday.
Next Racine County Sheriff’s Lieutenant Michael Luell appeared in uniform to describe his investigation into the election. Last October, Racine County Sheriff Christopher Schmaling and Luell called a press conference to allege that five members of the Wisconsin Elections Commission (WEC) had committed felony election fraud and misconduct in public office by deciding to forgo the SVD process.
On Monday, despite saying that he’s been continuing to work on the investigation, Luell showed the same PowerPoint presentation he gave at the October press conference.
In March of 2020, the WEC voted unanimously not to send the SVDs because the state was under a stay-at-home order to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Subsequent votes to forgo the process in later elections were 5-1. These votes were made in open meetings but Luell said on Monday that the decisions were made “in the dark,” even though he played several video clips from those very meetings on the public access network Wisconsin Eye.
Thomas says he wanted the event to help citizens connect the dots about the 2020 election. But the dots were already connected as the speakers shared allegations that have been repeatedly rehashed to support the Big Lie that the 2020 election was stolen from Donald Trump.
Luell briefly forgot the name of one of Wisconsin Republicans’ favorite election targets, but the audience was quick to jump in and help out.
“Meagan Wolfe,” a few chimed in. “And what’s her title?” Luell asked.
“Administrator.”
Even though the event didn’t fill the room and the election conspiracy movement was declared dead at last weekend’s Republican convention, after Assembly Speaker Robin Vos declared that the 2020 election results cannot be changed, to boos from the crowd, and then survived a ballot seeking his ouster, the speakers in Kenosha vowed to keep working.
“This is fantastic content,” Kardaal said about the allegations of fraud. “We’re not really going anywhere. I’m a long term player.”
And if people’s faith in the movement is beginning to falter as further investigations fail to reveal new facts and the next round of elections gets closer, Kardaal has a message for the base.
“Don’t listen to their arguments,” he said.
Wisconsin Examiner is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Wisconsin Examiner maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Ruth Conniff for questions: info@wisconsinexaminer.com. Follow Wisconsin Examiner on Facebook and Twitter.
On Wednesday, Fox 32 News reported on a horrific attack outside Chicago's Trump Tower that left a 75-year-old homeless man critically injured.
"The 75-year-old was laying on the ground around 2:50 a.m. when someone doused him in flammable liquid and set him ablaze in the 400 block of North Lower Wabash Avenue, police said," reported Joanie Lum. "The suspect fled the scene westbound on foot. A security officer from a nearby building used a fire extinguisher to put out the fire, officials said."
"The man suffered burns to almost half of his body and was taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital where he was listed in critical condition, police said," the report continued. "No one is in custody as Area Three detectives investigate."
The Trump Tower in Chicago is one of many buildings around the country branded with the former president's name, although a proposed ordinance would force the tower to remove it.
Homeless people have been victims of horrific crimes over the years that have received national attention.
In March, police searched for a "cold-blooded killer" of homeless men who committed shootings in D.C. and New York City. And in April, a man opened fire on a Brooklyn subway allegedly out of antipathy for homeless people, an act Fox News hosts even suggested was understandable.
WFAA-TV reporter Adriana De Alba reported live from outside the school as families waited to learn whether their children had survived or been killed, and she powered through tears as she tried to describe the emotionally traumatic scene.
"It's heartbreaking," she said. "I can't even describe it, this feeling. It's been more than 10 hours since this tragedy unfolded, and parents tonight are still trying to figure out what is happening with their children."
The station then broadcast an interview she had conducted with one father who was awaiting news about his daughter, but he said local authorities were unable to tell him whether to go to the hospital or elsewhere to learn what happened to her.
"That parent, like many, is living a nightmare right now," De Alba said, struggling to hold onto her composure. "Just hoping to be reunited, just hoping to hug their child once again. There are just too many parents who sent their children to school this morning, and now they are living a nightmare."
At least 21 dead after Uvalde school shooting, officials confirm
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