Worked a booth at Fall Festival next to County Republicant Party booth, LET ME TELL YOU!

[Best_man23]

The festival was in a deep red part of Virginia and the cray-cray was thick and heavy there, all day. Just a few examples of the crap being spewed:

"The TaLiBaN are coming, The TaLiBaN are coming..."

"I'm Red, White, and Blue to my "Murican core."

"I need to watch more Faux News."

"Virginia needs an election audit because tRump won Virginia." (fact: Biden/Harris won Virginia by 10% of the vote, and the state was called on Election night.)

"I get my information from three sources, QAnon, OAN, and the NRA."

and my personal favorite, which I think came from someone working the R's booth:

"Stay militant."

Late in the day, someone came over from the local Democratic party booth and apologized to us for having to endure the cray-cray.

[underpants]

1. Thas some serious crazy

[Botany]

2. I was over in the Blue Ridge of VA last July around Woodstock VA. Shenandoah Valley area

.... working on a project and I became really sacred for the future of America because of some of the
people. I am now sure that one of the biggest threats to America are right wing evangelical white
racist dumb asses. My project was up in the hills a little west and a little south of Woodstock and the
the Trump/Christian/Rebel and American Flag/MAGA Stuff in so many of the yards was crazy. One barn
had Jesus & Trump with their arms around each other with a bald eagle and a setting sun behind them.
Another yard had a big sign blaming Joe Biden for the problems in Cuba now and a bus that was painted
with crosses and a big "It was stolen" on it. Lots of churches, crosses, and anti vaccine/mask stuff too.

Since I drive a F-150 pick up truck and had my dog with me people were kind to me but there was a
feel of real delusional crazy in the air.

Putin was successful beyond his wildest dreams in causing problems in America by installing Trump.

[Evolve Dammit]

7. It's everywhere rural. It's like two America's and one is just fine with violence and autocracy.

Good observations. Thanks

[Botany]

11. I think much of the rural Trump support comes down to a few things

RACISM along with a proud to be stupid attitude, a believe in a Jesus deity that supports their own believes,
and a burning bitterness @ "the libs" which is re-enforced daily through hate talk radio, TV, and the internets.

[Evolve Dammit]

14. Agree. And the last piece is the biggest IMHO, stoking it all 24/7/365.

[Botany]

17. And in some cases the stupidity, racism, and anti-intellectualism is built up over generations and..

... in the community's social structure and the internet garbage* along with hate talk radio & TV
helps to re-enforce their believes. Outside of NPR people are bathed in Christian and or Political hate
talk on the radio non stop. For the love of God an unapologetic Hungarian Nazi Sebastian Gorki
gets hours a day to spew his lies. In Oct. of 2019 I was crossing the Ohio River and my radio
scanned over to pick up Gorki and I couldn't help but to think how many hundreds of thousands
of men, young men, and women came from the Ohio River valley area to fight the Nazis and or
work in the factories to produce the needed materials for WW II.




* https://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1016&pid=302486

[Evolve Dammit]

28. Gorka truly is a Nazi. The brainwashing is relentless. We are not the country of our youth, or even

middle age. This has accelerated in the last 15 years in my estimation, more so in the last 5-6. Cult 45 found that bullying and lying work beautifully in a land of free speech. No need to be accurate or civil.

[PatSeg]

16. That is so disturbing

I'm afraid that Putin only harvested the nuttery that was already there for many years. These people were just waiting for THEIR moment and a leader who spoke for them. Perhaps it was inevitable.

I always knew such people existed, but I was horrified to find there were so many. I was also shocked to see hardcore fundamentalist Christians gravitate to Trump, who is basically the antithesis of everything they purport to believe. Of course, many of them are just thinking with an end-of-days mindset, so I guess little things like adultery, avarice, and lying aren't of primary importance to them. The Rapture is within their reach and they can't wait to meet their maker.

[Botany]

21. June 2020 Brandenberg, KY A Bubba Army of Beards, Beer Guts, and AKs waiting to fight a BLM ..

... ANTIFA force that was coming down the OH River from Cincinnati on barges to attack their statue dedicated to
the Confederated Soldiers. They learned about the coming attack from the internet.

[PatSeg]

23. "A Bubba Army of Beards, Beer Guts, and AKs"

Oh, that is a keeper!

[Botany]

24. I heard one of that Bubba Army interviewed and he said something like, "People don't understand ...

... the other side." And I thought "both sides?" No there was the north that fought to preserve the union
and there is the south and they were fighting to violently destroy the United States because they thought
God had made black people inferior so it was OK to keep 'em as slaves.

BTW the barge load of BLM Terrorists coming down the OH River from Cincinnati never showed up.

[PatSeg]

31. So the barge of terrorists never showed up?

How disappointing for the Bubbas. You know, they just are looking for an excuse to get into a fight with someone, anyone will do. It is much like kids on the playground, starting fights for no good reason. It is an adrenaline rush.

It reminds me of the Proud Boys recently who were expecting counter protestors at their rally. When none showed up, they went armed with bats and some with guns, marching through the city looking for "antifa". There was no real issue involved, they just had bloodlust and wanted to bash in some skulls.

[leftieNanner]

36. No! No! That's proof that it worked!

The BLM Antifa (whatever) were too askeered to show up in their barge because the Bubba Army was ON IT!

[wnylib]

25. Would be fun to set them up

with a few "tips" and watch them gather for nothing.

Except, with their mentality, they might get angry enough to go out looking for people to attack.

[Botany]

29. They were already set up by misinformation on right wing web sites that warned them about the coming

... BLM invasion which I have no doubt came as a result of Russian or some other foreign actor.

[Tommymac]

33. That area has been like that since the Civil War.

I lived in Winchester area for a long time. Knew folks from Woodstock - and they were insular crazy racist religious right wingers in the 1990's.

The KKK is strong in that area too. The National Grand Poobah aAswipe or whatever he is called was at one time from rural NW Frederick County just up the road.

Fertile ground for Qanon and Putin, but believe me, those areas were racist wingnut KKK Still fightin' the Civil War for as long long time prior to TFG.

[HuskyOffset]

35. Sounds like Far Cry 5 (NT)

[Botany]

40. The 3 big ass crosses south of Winchester off of I 81

Last edited Fri Sep 24, 2021, 09:30 AM - Edit history (1)

Are creepy as hell. Where I was working was rural but one of the neighbors carried a 9mm with a round in the
chamber in case a mugger jumped him. His son lived in the same area and had this flag:

[RAB910]

3. The irony is they believe they are patriots when in reality they are anti-American traitors

[AllaN01Bear]

5. ive been dealing w that nonsense since i was a little boy.

"we are more patriotic than u are". and i wonder how many served .

[RAB910]

9. We saw on January 6, serving in the military is not definitive proof of loyaty

or partriotism. We had active and former military attacking our nation and trying to overthrow our government

[wnylib]

26. I'd like to see an essay contest on

Last edited Fri Sep 24, 2021, 02:29 PM - Edit history (1)

patriotism that requires no mention of anything military to see what people's thoughts are on patriotism without the usual military default. That is NOT a denial of the value of military service, just a wish to see other ideas of patriotism mentioned.

Maybe another contest on what is not patriotism.

[Prof. Toru Tanaka]

41. There are parts of being patriotic that they hate

....like paying one's fair share of taxes and volunteering for public service. Patriotism to me is not beating one's breast and shouting slogans or constantly displaying our country's flag on everything. Doing things like volunteering for programs like litter pickup along roads or Meals on Wheels is patriotic. Patriotism is truly caring about making one's country a better place to live and being helpful to fellow citizens.

Patriotism is also loving and caring about our country enough to admit that it is not perfect and being willing to make changes for the betterment of all of its citizens.

[wnylib]

43. I would agree with that.

Also, part of patriotism, to me, is that it means knowing how the government system works and participating in governance in multiple ways, like voting, volunteering on campaigns, going to community meetings like city council or school board, being a poll worker. Knowing the nation's constitution and the values expressed in it and making them a living part of of everyday life are also patriotic.

[Prof. Toru Tanaka]

44. Very well put!

I should have mentioned your points in my post. Thank you for listing these.

[PatSeg]

18. And being poorly educated and uninquisitive,

they have no idea what being an American means. They just like certain words like "patriot" and "liberty", but their knowledge of American history is something you could fit on a bumper sticker or a Facebook meme. Like like flags and funny hats and of course, guns - lots and lots of guns!

[Boomerproud]

4. Surprised at the apology . Not surprised at everything else.

[LeftInTX]

6. The Democratic Party apologized.

[Evolve Dammit]

8. I don't know how you did it. At least keeping food down and all.....

[sarisataka]

10. It's amazing

Practically unbelievable

[Treefrog]

12. Indeed.

[Ohioboy]

13. I recently had to do some work at a venue hosting a gun show

The crazy was thick there too.

I overheard two guys talking about how "the Bible is coming true because of Trump". "Stay militant" was their message too.

It's nuts!

[Evolve Dammit]

15. "The Chosen One" will try to mobilize the rabid base at some point as suits mount. Inevitable.

[KS Toronado]

19. I agree

Especially when they have this "Stay militant." attitude.

[wnylib]

27. I think thatTrump's ability to mobilize them

Last edited Thu Sep 23, 2021, 01:12 PM - Edit history (1)

is fading. But someone else might be able to do it.

[KS Toronado]

30. Granted, it might be fading a little....

but the MAGA crowd is armed and dangerous and quite a few want a civil war between R's & D's.
They want Qrump back in the White House because of the big lie. Keep in mind that most of the crowd
that worships him have no critical thinking skills.They'd be happy with him as a fascist king.

[BobTheSubgenius]

20. I think that word needs another "cray."

[Initech]

22. Their solution to everything is always violence!

[marieo1]

32. Disgusting

I have never been to Virginia and for darn sure I won't ever be going there. What a bunch of lunatics

[cadoman]

34. Did you forget, "Muh freedumb!"

But seriously, thanks for trying to reach out to those unvaccinated idiots. I don't know how you have the patience.

[kairos12]

37. Terrorists all.

[NBachers]

38. Then the dire warnings I've been reading about Virginia are true. I just donated here- you can too:

https://secure.actblue.com/donate/dpva_2021?refcode=website

[Smackdown2019]

39. Your tent should of....

You should had your tent with the American Flag and a sign THAT read: "We stand behind the US of America Flag. We don't storm Capitols or use the American Flag to injure our police officers.... "

PERHAPS the message would get across the idiots next door.

[Martin68]

42. As a Virginian, it is eye-opening to spend time in Trump country.

The rest of the state is sane.