See below for video and a transcript of former Rep. Denver Riggleman (R-VA05), speaking on Anderson Cooper’s show last night, about how the type of extremism we saw on January 6th, with the violent Eric Greitens ad, etc. ” is starting to get a little bit baked in into certain portions of the GOP.” Former Rep. Riggleman added that he actually had to shut down his company’s email because of the appalling threats pouring in. As Riggleman said, “at some point we’re going to have to have some kind of leadership address this. And right now you’re not seeing it.”
“I think that type of extremism is starting to get a little bit baked in into certain portions of the GOP. I mean, I saw it really here with the amount of death threats I had after I did the same-sex wedding in August of 2019. And even after my appearance with you on June 1st, we actually had to shut down our company email, we actually got so many emails that were talking about pedophilia, they were talking about killing people, they were talking about bounties, that at some point my wife and daughters actually called me in and said we’re getting so many emails now we need to shut down the link on the website.
So Anderson, when you’re listening you know what’s happening to Adam [Kinzinger], what’s happened to people in the party, what’s happened to Democrats, what’s happened to all these individuals, it seems like a go-to that either these type of threats, it’s just one of those things that you sort of live with. But we’re to a point now we’ve seen so much violence that these threats aren’t empty. And that’s the problem that I have with all this.
And Anderson, at some point we’re going to have to have some kind of leadership address this. And right now you’re not seeing it. If Eric Greitens can go out and do a video about hunting RINOs, you know with assault weapons, or kicking in doors – you have a bunch of door kickers since he’s a former Navy SEAL. The issue is he’s talking to live-action role players, he’s talking to LARPers, and any idiot can pull a trigger, any idiot can do something stupid. So the problem is that you have people that could be being radicalized because of this type of sort of ridiculous buffoonery, and somebody who maybe through polling thought that the second amendment was so important that he needs to threaten other individuals.”
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