Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-Mich.) shared an abusive voicemail with CNN’s State of the Union on Sunday during a segment on the hostile work environment in Congress.
“You ought to get the fuck off the planet, you fucking foul bitch,” an angry male caller barked. “They ought to fucking try you for treason, bitch. … I hope your family dies in front of you. I pray to God, if you’ve got any children, they die in your face.”
“It’s pretty toxic, there’s no question about it,” GOP Rep. Fred Upton discusses the hostility on Capitol Hill with Democratic colleague Rep. Debbie Dingell.
“I’ve never seen anything like this before,” Upton said. https://t.co/xVqajkrudK #CNNSOTU pic.twitter.com/l7kX9ej1IW
— State of the Union (@CNNSotu) December 26, 2021
Dingell, who took office in Jan. 2019, said she has been receiving a steady flow of similar voicemails ever since then-President Trump visited Michigan at Christmas time a few years ago, following the death of her husband Rep. John Dingell. Trump implied during a trip to Michigan in Dec. 2019 that the late Michigan lawmaker was “looking up” from hell.
“Once you’re in that Trump hate tunnel, you kind of don’t escape it,” Dingell said, adding that it’s something that she has grown accustomed to, yet shouldn’t be normalized. “I want the American people to think about what’s happening in our country,” she urged. “That this kind of hate, this fear, is happening in communities” all over.
Dingell appeared on State of the Union alongside Republican Rep. Fred Upton, who received a barrage of threatening messages after he voted in favor of the bipartisan infrastructure package in November. “I hope your fucking family dies. I hope everybody in your fucking staff dies, you fucking piece of fucking shit. Traitor!” an anonymous caller said in a message Upton shared with CNN at the time.
“We get really nasty threats at home,” Upton said on Sunday. “The tone gets tougher and tougher. It’s a pretty toxic place. I’ve never seen anything like this before.”
Source: RollingStone
