Last winter, when female constituents “got up in his grill,” 7th District Congressman Dave Brat readily disparaged them, inaccurately referring to them as “paid protestors.” As the Richmond Times-Dispatch reports this week, an individual named Sara James, who frequently – and aggressively – trolls Brat’s liberal constituents on his Facebook page, is actually his paid communications manager. And he would have gotten away with it, too, if it weren’t for those meddling women who followed the money.
So, while Brat has been accusing constituents of behaving in a divisive manner and admonishing them to conduct themselves civilly, the person he pays to communicate with constituents has been doing just the opposite, in a determined attempt to intimidate dissenters and exacerbate discord.
Ms. James’ failure to identify herself as an employee of Brat’s in these inflammatory encounters is purposefully deceptive and makes her actions all the more reprehensible. And just as Dave refuses to censure Trump or any of his other Republican cronies who lie, commit sexual assault, embrace white supremacy, or collude with Russians, he publicly condones Ms. James’ behavior.
With increasingly damaging blunders like this; a field of several strong candidates vying for the opportunity to unseat him next fall (assuming he makes it past his own primary); and the now-proven strength of the woman-powered Resistance, Dave’s chances of reelection are steadily diminishing.
Read more about the Democrats who are seeking their party’s nomination in 2018 for the 7th District congressional seat in Virginia:
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