Tornado Alley (PROG)

[Maria56]

I live in a neighboring state. How about a fence around Arizona and some border guards?

Arizona GOP asks followers if they're willing to die in effort to overturn election results
Maria Polletta
Arizona Republic

The Arizona Republican Party has asked its followers if they are willing to die for the cause of overturning the presidential election results, eliciting alarm and criticism in response.

The party's official Twitter account on Monday night shared a post from Ali Alexander, an activist with an organization called "Stop the Steal" that has protested election results.

"I am willing to give my life for this fight," Alexander wrote. When sharing the post, the GOP asked followers: "He is. Are you?"

The GOP then posted a clip from the movie "Rambo", highlighting the quote: “This is what we do, who we are. Live for nothing, or die for something.”

A handful of users replied they were indeed willing to give their lives to the cause. But the majority of respondents — which included voters, lawmakers and pundits — decried the posts as "dangerous" and "insane."

"You're asking people to die for this conspiracy theory?" Arizona Sen. Martín Quezada, D-Maryvale, wrote in a tweet. "What in the living hell is wrong with you people?"

Some users noted they had reported the posts, which were online for more than nine hours.

As of midmorning Tuesday, it appeared the GOP had removed the Twitter post with the movie clip, but the post quoting Alexander remained.

In response to an inquiry from The Arizona Republic, GOP spokesman Zachery Henry said that "fictional movie scenes should be weighed in their proper context."

“The Republican Party of Arizona condemns all forms of violence in the strongest terms," he said via email.

It was not immediately clear who in the organization had crafted and published the posts.

Election contests filed by GOP officials fighting to overturn President-elect Joe Biden's win in Arizona have so far been unsuccessful.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.

https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/politics/elections/2020/12/08/arizona-republican-party-asks-if-followers-die-election-president-donald-trump/6488952002/