Latest revelations cast Washington state Rep. Matt Shea's extremism in a disturbingly violent light
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The more we learn about Washington state Rep. Matt Shea, the greater the question becomes: Why does this man still hold elected office? And when will the Washington state Republican Party finally do the right thing and eject him from its ranks? A recent deeLatest revelations cast Washington state Rep. Matt Shea's extremism in a disturbingly violent light
The more we learn about Washington state Rep. Matt Shea, the greater the question becomes: Why does this man still hold elected office? And when will the Washington state Republican Party finally do the right thing and eject him from its ranks? A recent deep dive into Shea’s online conversations with fellow “Patriot”/militia movement members by Jason Wilson of The Guardian recently revealed the disturbing depth and breadth of Shea’s extremist beliefs, including talk about violent retribution against their critics and an embrace of a notorious white nationalist who already had been ejected from the state GOP. Shea, a legislator from Spokane Valley, has already lost his position as a leader in the state GOP caucus despite his status as the state’s second-most senior Republican House member, due primarily to the revelations that emerged surrounding his associations with a far-right “Patriot” community based primarily in the small Stevens County town of Marble. These included Shea’s authorship of a document outlining the kind of “Christian” society he and his cohorts envisioned after the collapse of civilization—one in which, among other things, non-believers would be put to death. Shea’s response, rather than disavowing the work and the communications, has been to attack his accusers. His involvement in a scheme to break eastern Washington off into a new state called “Liberty,” apparently organized along similar lines, continues apace with a recruitment campaign in other eastern Washington counties. According to Wilson’s latest report, Shea and his cohorts—which include another legislator, Idaho Republican state Rep. Heather Scott—regularly indulged in idle chatter joking about the use of lethal violence against their critics. Read more