This afternoon, outgoing Rep. Denver Riggleman (R-VA05), who was defeated for the Republican nomination by far-right extremist Bob Good, gave his farewell address from Congress. Among other things, Riggleman – who has been one of the few Republicans speaking up for our democracy and speaking out against Trump Republicans’ assaults on our democracy – said:
“Just like creating a vaccine to eradicate COVID-19, we must work together to inoculate against the social contagion of disinformation, conspiracies, anti-Semitism, dehumanization, racism, Deep State cabal nonsense, cults, and those grifters posing as servants of the people.”
- Riggleman also pointedly noted that “invaluable lesson of considering the *source* when evaluating information…and when fighting radicalization and disinformation campaigns.”
- According to Riggleman, the pillars of a working democratic republic “are now being assaulted by disinformation and outlandish theories surrounding this presidential election.”
- Riggleman implored everyone to consider the sources of information you receive, “to factcheck diligently” and “to recognize that many bad actors who spread spurious and fantastical conspiracy theories under banners like QAnon…Stop the Steal…and many other emotive terms…are not disseminating information rooted in knowledge, but with questionable motives and greed…rooted in misunderstanding or fraud or in some cases ignorance.”
- Riggleman added, “Disinformation hinders our free exchange of ideas” and “create a fever of nonsense,” attacking “specific pillars of democracy…from belief in democratic elections to trust in public health and public institutions.“
- Riggleman declared that while he’s leaving Congress, he’s always going to fight disinformation wherever he sees it, adding “radicalization through disinformation has no place in the United States, and in this fight I will not relent.”
Great stuff. Now we need a lot more Republicans to join Denver Riggleman and show some courage and commitment to our country’s constitution and democracy, for a change.
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