Outbreak of violent threats against school boards being pushed by 'right-wing think tanks': MSNBC’s Joy Reid
MSNBC host Joy Reid on Tuesday compiled some videos showing violent and dangerous rhetoric popping up in school board meetings all over the United States.
While discussing the viral school board videos, Reid explained that this rage is fueled by right-wing think tanks and other Republican funders who have their own agenda in the COVID-19 crisis.
"For many of them, it's just theater, their own little Game of Thrones, trying to grab power by playing on the paranoia of the marks in their party base, but for those on the receiving end of these threats, it's not a game at all," she said. "A growing number of increasingly unhinged people, who I won't even dignify by calling them activists, have fed all of this poison and are targeting school boards and health care professionals, and sometimes even children."
She cited a fight that broke out in a Florida school board meeting over masks, noting that there were "eerie echoes of the Jan. 6 insurrection."
One video shows a woman claiming that she has power over demonic forces as a Christian, she thinks masks are themselves demonic. Another man showed a map of where school board members live so that people can show up. "The civil war is coming, people! Get your guns!" he said.
In reality, 69 percent of Americans support their school board mask mandates. The outlandish rage comes from such a small subset of people that school boards make decisions based on that fear.
"Many of these school board meetings have been abruptly canceled because of these outbursts," Reid said. "These folks would like you to believe there is an organic movement on behalf of the majority of Americans. These astroturf protests have been primed by right-wing think tanks, including the Proud Boys, even people who don't have kids in the school. While these twisted ravings get tons of coverage, the loudest voices do not equal majorities. Nearly 7 in 10 Americans support their local school districts requiring teachers, students and administrators to wear masks in schools. So, kids don't get sick and wind up in the hospital or dead or infect their parents."
See Reid's full take below:
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