March 18, 2024 01:17 PM UTC

Rep. Brandi Bradley Echoes "Dr. Chaps" Death Threats

• 2 Comments
• by: Colorado Pols

Back in February, we took note of a QAnon-sized hissy fit thrown by freshman Rep. Brandi Bradley of Highlands Ranch, who was so bitterly incensed at the Democratic supermajority for killing her bill imposing mandatory minimum sentences on a range of sex offenses that she appeared to condone death threats made about the legislation directed at lawmakers who voted to kill the bill in committee.

The eight democrats on state affairs voted to let pedophiles roam the streets and prey on our children. They could have voted yes to protect our children but they didn’t and now they have opened Pandora’s box. If you are receiving death threats for the way YOU voted, that has nothing to do with me…

Rep. Bradley further elaborated on those death threats speaking to Colorado Public Radio on February 22nd, saying she’s never “liked a single comment that was calling for a wood chipper or a noose,” which seems oddly specific but hear her out:

Bradley defended her posts and said if Democrats are receiving death threats it’s because of their votes, not her comments.

“We have people on social media that advocate for dangerous things. I haven’t liked a single comment that was calling for a wood chipper or a noose,” Bradley told CPR. “I don’t think I was inciting threats. I think that you can publicly speak out about a vote that was horrific and is not going to do justice for children.”

Well folks, last week, Rep. Bradley got uncomfortably specific once again about the manner of death she is allegedly not threatening anyone with, in a moment of righteous fervor while re-watching the 2023 movie beloved by global human trafficking conspiracy theorists Sound of Freedom:

If the Bible verse Bradley quotes about hanging millstones around people’s necks and drowning them “in the depths of the sea” sounds familiar, it’s because longtime readers have seen it before. Back in July of 2015, then-Rep. Gordon “Dr. Chaps” Klingenschmitt cited the same Bible verse to call for the deaths of “gay scoutmasters,” saying drowning would be preferable to when God “throws them into hell.” Klingenschmitt’s call for scoutmasters to be “drowned in the depths of the sea” made national headlines and was overwhelmingly condemned, as the Denver Post reported, including by the Colorado Republican Party of the time:

On Wednesday, the Colorado Republican Party issued a statement addressing Klingenschmitt’s remarks.

“We strongly condemn Gordon Klingenschmitt’s highly offensive comments. As we’ve said in the past, Gordon does not speak on behalf of the Party, nor do his words reflect our Party’s values,” the statement said.

Both sides of the political spectrum shamed Klingenschmitt’s comments. LGBT advocacy group One Colorado asked the GOP to condemn Klingenschmitt’s comments, and the liberal organization Progress Now asked for him to resign.

It’s useful to recount all of the circumstances that have changed since the reaction to Klingenschmitt’s death threats in 2015. While Klingenschmitt was formally condemned by the Colorado Republican Party, the current chairman of the Colorado Republican Party is Rep. Bradley’s former aide Dave “Let’s Go Brandon” Williams, who being as far out of the political mainstream as Bradley and just as vituperative is never going to criticize his former boss. That leaves any hope of accountability before the voters weigh in next November to the new Minority Leader Rose Pugliese, who made it clear on Rep. Bradley’s last death-threat go-round that she won’t be holding any of her caucus back, and to hell with the Republican brand:

“All of our elected officials on both sides have a First Amendment constitutional right to free speech, and we support that. We don’t control our members.” [Pols emphasis]

Of course, it wasn’t about “controlling” members back in 2015 either. It was about ensuring that death threats from sitting lawmakers were not construed as representative of Colorado Republicans as a whole. That this is no longer a priority for Colorado Republicans shows how such once-unacceptable behavior has been normalized between then and today.

And that could be the worst part of this sad story.