Democrats push for investigation of Ryan Walters, Oklahoma’s firebrand schools superintendent
Oklahoma Democrats are calling for an impeachment probe of Ryan Walters, the state’s superintendent of public instruction, citing a range of recent issues, including bomb threats against a school district following one of Walters’ provocative social media posts.
In a statement Tuesday, state House Democrats said they’ve made a formal request to the GOP speaker to set up a bipartisan committee to investigate whether there’s sufficient evidence to impeach Walters. The Democratic caucus cited Walters’ “consistent pattern of inflammatory language aimed at our public education teachers, outright lies and targeted attacks on local control.”
Walters, a Republican firebrand known for focusing on culture war issues, has ushered in the nation’s first religious charter school, promised to “put God back in schools” and threatened to take over the state’s largest school district in Tulsa, a showdown that pushed out the local superintendent — all within his first eight months in office.
Notably, this guy is a liar: the post that initiated the threats was based on editing someone else's video to change the message in a way designed to evoke rage.
This guy needs to go we all hate him here in Tulsa he is Maga fucking terrorist and wants to destroy Oklahoma in favor of his christofacist dream land.
Sick of these fuckers and I wish we could run him out of state.
Good news, you totally can! Make their lives increasingly difficult every day! Leave your car and trash in their driveways! Stake unwelcoming signs outside their homes! Show your dissatisfaction with action!
If librarians are your political enemy then ignorance is your weapon of choice.
The right long ago weaponized ignorance.
This is the Republican MO now. They know that a lie can and will spread like wildfire far faster than the truth. They also know that people tend to side with the first thing they hear, especially if what they're hearing jives with their personal beliefs. And they've learned to weaponize this against their political opponents.
Take a look at how many local school boards, city councils, and other local committees have been taken over by right-wing extremists who blatantly used violence and intimidation to either force political opponents out of office or out of an election race by threatening the safety of them and their families, leaving only right-wing nutjobs to fill the voids.
Take a look at the election officials in Georgia who continue to suffer from lies spread about them when one of them passed her daughter a mint. They are still receiving death threats to this day. Election officials nationwide are now worrying about staffing for the 2024 election, as others have said they're no longer willing to volunteer out of fear of being similarly targeted. This is going to lead to a LOT of polling places being staffed by similar right-wing nuts because nobody else is willing to take the risks associated with the job.
And they also know that, at the end of the day, there are no laws that can be put into place that can stop the truly determined. I mean sure, if one of them follows through on a threat, they can be put in jail for murder or whatever. But the fact that they'll go away for murder isn't going to be of much solace to you when you're staring at the business end of an AR-15 and being told to either quit or be killed. It's not much solace to the mother who just received her 3rd death threat of the week, this time accompanied by a picture of her daughter walking out of school. All the justice in the world won't change the fact that you (and/or your family) are still dead.
And let's say you do stand up. You refuse to quit and end up getting killed. The guy who kills you goes to jail for murder. But guess what? That position you took on the schoolboard or whatever still needs to be filled. And when it's time to elect your replacement, nobody on your side of the aisle is going to be willing to risk ending up just like you did. Which means your spot will likely end up being filled by a right-wing nutjob anyway. Which means that the GOP gets their way in the long run, and you died for nothing. Since the GOP plays the long game, they're OK with this outcome because they win in the end. At worst, you're considered "acceptable losses".
This kind of intimidation tactic has worked for centuries, because there's really no way to stop it. All the laws in the world don't matter to someone hellbent on their mission and believing that they'll be viewed as a patriot for their actions. Republicans have learned how to use this accordingly. What they can't get legislatively they'll just take through violence.
And it's working.
A person driven to override their self-preservation is an insanely dangerous thing.