As 'Massacre Mitch' Trends, Twitter Suspends McConnell for Posting Video of Protesters Outside His House
You can call House Majority Leader McConnell “Massacre Mitch” on social media — a moniker with a ghastly double entendre — but if you’re going to post footage of protesters who have parked themselves outside of McConnell’s house and are screaming unspeakable things, including threats of violence, you’ve crossed a line.
That’s at least the takeaway from Twitter’s temporary lock-out of the Kentucky senator’s campaign account, Team Mitch, for showing footage of a profanity-laced demonstration outside of McConnell’s Louisville home after two mass shootings this weekend, the Louisville Courier-Journal reported.
The protesters were purportedly calling for gun control — although, by the sounds of things, they were calling for something a bit more, um, atrocious.
In response to the fact that McConnell had recently fallen and injured his shoulder, Black Lives Matter Louisville leader Chanelle Helm was caught on video saying that the senator “should have broken his little raggedy, wrinkled-[expletive] neck.”
Another clip showed Helm, in response to a man who was talking about stabbing a McConnell voodoo doll, saying “just stab the motherf—– in the heart.”
This was the kind of stuff that was being flung at McConnell outside of his own home. Thus, McConnell’s campaign team decided to show it to the world in order to demonstrate the kind of invective that’s coming from the left.
That was a bridge too far for Twitter, which said McConnell’s team “was temporarily locked out of their account for a Tweet that violated our violent threats policy, specifically threats involving physical safety.”
“This morning, Twitter locked our account for posting the video of real-world, violent threats made against Mitch McConnell. This is a problem with the speech police in America today,” McConnell campaign manager Kevin Golden said. “The Lexington Herald-Leader can attack Mitch with cartoon tombstones of his opponents. But we can’t mock it.”
Golden was referring to a controversy over a response to a cartoon in the Herald-Leader which took aim at McConnell’s “slime machine.”
“Twitter will allow the words of ‘Massacre Mitch’ to trend nationally on their platform, but locks our account for posting actual threats against us,” Golden continued.
“We appealed and Twitter stood by their decision, saying our account will remain locked until we delete the video.”
According to the Washington Examiner, Twitter was locking other accounts that also posted the video.
As for those using the #MassacreMitch hashtag — again, not so much. (WARNING: Some minor bad language and/or a Jimmy Kimmel monologue ahead. Viewer discretion is advised.)
Why don’t you go back to DC and do your job?? Call an emergency session to pass legislation that will allow all Americans to live in safety, and not in fear for their lives EVERY GODDAMNED DAY!! You are a disgrace!! ##MoscowMitch #MassacreMITCH https://t.co/ud1aIKBCmu
— Bette Midler (@BetteMidler) August 7, 2019
97% of Americans agree that we need universal background checks. Tell #MassacreMitch @SenateMajLdr & @RealDonaldTrump to DO something about it. @MomsDemand https://t.co/jjdLgSceBx pic.twitter.com/nJmIWoPcZs
— Jimmy Kimmel (@jimmykimmel) August 6, 2019
“Can I get two boxes of Sudafed please”
“Sorry, by law you can only buy one at a time”
“Okay then, just the one box of Sudafed and these 7 assault rifles”#Walmart#GunReformNow#MassacreMitch pic.twitter.com/jkxo4ulecF
— Stone ? (@stonecold2050) August 6, 2019
And yes, I get that the original meaning is supposed to be that by standing up for the Second Amendment and opposing “common-sense gun control legislation” (read: “Whatever the Democrats are proposing”), McConnell is somehow responsible for massacres. I find it highly suspect that these users didn’t understand the double entendre here, particularly during a week when the left is pretending to believe rhetoric sets off mass murderers.
It’s worth noting that Twitter’s “violent threats” policy says that users “may not threaten violence against an individual or a group of people” or promote “the glorification of violence.”
So, which one is it, then? Was Team Mitch threatening violence against the people who were outside of his house by showing them threatening violence against him? Or were they promoting “the glorification of violence” by showing how these “protesters” (really not the right word) were glorifying violence?
Chanelle Helm, meanwhile, was completely unrepentant for her part in this whole kerfuffle.
“McConnell doesn’t care about people who actually do break their necks, who need insulin, who need any type of medication, because [Republicans] want to stop and prevent health care for all,” she told the Courier-Journal.
“And that is something that every American out here wants. There’s only a few Americans who don’t want that, and those people are politicians and their cronies.”
Her Twitter account, in case you even had to ask the question, is still up and not locked out. She was temporarily blocked from Facebook, however, which she blamed on white men. Because, sure.
I used to think reading was critical but listening is too. White men protecting white men. Blocked from @Facebook because white men think voodoo dolls are death threats. #TheCaucasity pic.twitter.com/ZdeCcMQWOr
— Chanelle Helm (@ChanelleHelm) August 7, 2019
The difference is, of course, that Chanelle Helm threatened violence against Mitch McConnell. Team Mitch pointed out how violence was threatened against Mitch McConnell.
That that some have lost the ability to tell the difference — or can plausibly pretend to — is shocking. The fact that they seem to have found gainful employment in Silicon Valley isn’t.
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