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MAGA Man Allegedly ‘Brandished’ Machete at Polling Place — GOP Cites ‘Political Tension’
A Florida man at an early voting location was arrested after he allegedly “brandished” a machete in an “aggressive” and “threatening” manner and waved it “over his head” to “antagonize” voters, including two women, one a senior citizen, according to police.
“Neptune Beach Police Chief Michael Key Jr. angrily denounced the actions of an 18-year-old man who waved a machete during a confrontation at the busy early voting site for the Beaches and said it crossed the line from First Amendment speech to criminal activity,” The Florida Times-Union reports. “Police arrested Caleb James Williams of Neptune Beach on a felony charge of aggravated assault on a person 65 years of age or older and on a misdemeanor charge of improper exhibition of a firearm or dangerous weapon, according to Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office jail records.”
Chief Key in a press conference Tuesday (video below) told reporters, “This goes way beyond expressing freedom of speech.”
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“To say your piece is your First Amendment protected right, but that goes out the window the moment you raise a machete over your head in a threatening manner,” he added.
News4Jax reports it “has learned that an 18-year-old, who now faces an aggravated assault charge after police said he ‘brandished a machete’ to intimidate voters, is a registered Republican.”
Duval County Democratic Party Chair Daniel Henry “said the young men were carrying Trump flags when they ‘confronted peaceful Harris-Walz sign wavers exercising their First Amendment rights.'”
In response, the Republican Party of Duval County issued a statement attempting to blame Democrats for “an environment of high political tension.”
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“The Republican Party of Duval County thanks law enforcement for swiftly apprehending the individual involved. In an environment of high political tension, where President Trump has survived two assassination attempts and Republican supporters are derided as Nazis and called ‘garbage’ by Joe Biden, we urge calm as we approach the end of this election season.”
President Biden clarified his remarks from Tuesday—which came after the Florida incident—after reporters had inaccurately described them. He was referring to comedian Tony Hinchcliffe’s remarks at Donald Trump’s Sunday Madison Square Garden rally. Hinchcliffe called Puerto Rico a “floating island of garbage in the middle of the ocean.”
Watch the video below or at this link.
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