“The Oregon Republican Party said the violence at the U.S. Capitol was a “false flag effort” designed to discredit Trump, his supporters and all conservative Republicans. The Oregon Republican Party said that they 'condemn the betrayal' of the Republicans who voted to impeach and encouraged voters in their districts to elect 'dedicated and courageous conservatives' in their place.
– Jordan Lancaster; Daily Caller; January 25, 2021
In a resolution condemning the ten House Republicans who voted to impeach former President Donald Trump, the Oregon GOP said that the Capitol riot was a “false flag” designed to discredit Republicans.
The Capitol riot provided the “sham motivation” for lawmakers to move forward with impeachment in order to advance Democrats’ goal to seize “total power,” the Oregon GOP wrote. They said that the situation is “a frightening parallel to the February 1933 burning of the German Reichstag.”
The “false flag effort,” they claim, will support President Joe Biden’s plans to re-introduce themes from the Patriot Act. These themes could include “codifying putting conservatives on a secret no-fly list without recourse to due process and restricting free speech.”
(Jordan Lancaster. “Oregon GOP Refers To Capitol Riot As ‘False Flag’ In Rebuke Of Republicans Who Voted To Impeach. Daily Caller. January 25, 2021.)
And now, the Oregon GOP has their huckleberry. Dallas Heard, a far-right senator who has rebelled against coronavirus restrictions and supported protesters who stormed the Oregon Capitol has been elected chairman of the state Republican Party, showing how the Republicans are taking a harder-line shift in some states and continuing to support former President Donald Trump.
Heard has burnished quite a reputation as a conservative rebel and has backed some swarthy characters, railed against mask mandates, and been active in right-wing groups.
Against the advice of his colleagues and GOP leadership, Oregon State Rep. Dallas Heard visited with militants illegally occupying the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in January 2016.
In 2016, as a state representative, Heard traveled to the headquarters of the federal Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in Oregon, which was at the time being occupied by an armed right-wing militia led by Ammon Bundy, son of the anti-government figure Cliven Bundy.
Heard met with the younger Bundy against the advice of law enforcement and expressed sympathy for the group's demand that federal lands be turned over to the states.
(Oliver Willis. “New Oregon GOP Chair Tied To Violent Right-Wing Extremists.” The National Memo. February 24, 2021.)
Following the surrender of the last militants, the FBI labeled the entire refuge a crime scene and canvassed the buildings in search of explosives and any previously existing hazardous materials. A collection of firearms and explosives were found inside the refuge. Safes were found to have been broken into, with money, cameras, and computers stolen by the militants. They were also found to have badly damaged tribal artifacts
(Maxine Bernstein. "Firearms, explosives and trench of human feces found at Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, feds say.” The Oregonian. February 18, 2016.)
During the occupation, the militants illegally dug a new road using a government-owned excavator, expanded a parking lot, dug trenches, destroyed part of a USFWS-owned fence, and removed security cameras. Some of the refuge's pipes broke, after which the militants, officials said, defecated "everywhere."
(Jes Burns. "Northwest Volunteers Want To Help Restore Malheur Refuge.” Portland, Oregon: Oregon Public Broadcasting. February 04, 2016.)
On Dec. 21, Heard encouraged a demonstration where far-right protesters stormed the state Capitol, which was closed to the public during an emergency session to deal with the pandemic. Protesters also pepper-sprayed police, smashed windows and assaulted journalists..
“I’m in full support of your right to enter your Capitol building,” Heard told the crowd.
The capitol break-in was promoted by the far-right Patriot Prayer. In January 2021 evidence came to light that Representative Mike Nearman (Republican from Independence)) had opened doors to the Oregon Capitol "allowing violent demonstrators who were protesting immediately outside the door to illegally enter the building" and cause damage.
The militia-inflamed "chaos in Oregon over the past year [was] a prologue to the insurrection at the U.S Capitol," in one account.
(Katie Shepherd, "Rioters stormed the Oregon Capitol in December: Video shows a Republican lawmaker let them in," Washington Post. January 12, 2021.)
This all led to tension when Heard objected to statewide mask requirements on January 21. He accused his colleagues of being involved in a "campaign against the people and the children of god." Heard expressed anger at the mask mandate in the state Capitol, ripped his mask off and left the floor.
"If you had not done such great evil to my people and had simply asked me to wear my mask, I would have," he said. "But you commanded it, and therefore I declare my right to protest against your false authority and remove my mask."
(“Far-right protesters disrupt Oregon legislature special session.” Portland Tribute. December 21, 2020.)
During a Jan. 6 unlawful assembly by Trump supporters outside the Oregon Capitol, Heard pointed at the building and shouted through a megaphone: “Don’t let any of these punks from that stone temple over there ever tell you that they are any better than you. Trust me, I work with these fools.”
“Don’t be violent, take action, trust in God and take down these fools in 2022,” Heard said.
A number of Oregon Republicans like Dallas Heard and R-Roseburg, condemned their party for being complicit with Democratic "elitists."
"I am a Republican, but I am an American first, and there are some Republicans that need to go, frankly," Heard said.
(Tim Gruver. “'This is war': Oregon pro-Trump protest descends into 'unlawful assembly' at state Capitol.” The Center Square. January 7, 2021.)
Heard also belongs to a group called Citizens Against Tyranny, which claims Democratic Gov. Kate Brown is infringing on their rights by ordering businesses to shut down, people to wear masks and follow other safety measures.
The “Citizens Against Tyranny” effort seeks to not only expose whistle blowers but also ban them from local businesses. The movement threatens a recall for any elected officials who don’t sign on. Heard told the Garden Valley Church in December:
“There’s going to be stuff in it that might make you pause for a second, like when we discover that someone has betrayed their community, betrayed their own freedom and turned in their neighbor for nothing but going to work and earning a living the most basic of rights, we’re going to expose them. We’re not going to return evil for evil though. But their faces and their names and what they did must be known.”
(Carisa Cegavske. “Citizens Against Tyranny movement, backed by Sen. Heard, seeks to expose people who make OSHA complaints.” The News-Review. Roseburg, Oregon. January 09, 2021.)
The group posted the names of people who reported violations of the rules to state authorities, calling them “filthy traitors.” Heard has since said the group’s leaders had never decided to publish the names, and the list was taken down.
(Andrew Selsky. “Far-right lawmaker takes over Oregon GOP in larger US shift.” ABC News. February 22, 2021.)
Other states with internal GOP struggles include North Carolina, where the Republican Party unanimously approved a resolution to censure Sen. Richard Burr over his vote to convict Trump during his second impeachment trial. Reps. Liz Cheney of Wyoming, Fred Upton of Michigan and Tom Rice of South Carolina have faced similar scolding at home. So did Cindy McCain, who is the late Sen. John McCain's widow, Gov. Doug Ducey and former Sen. Jeff Flake in Arizona.
Oregon Republicans now have state chairman Heard. However, more than 6,000 Oregonians left the Republican Party in January 2021, the same month that pro-Trump rioters stormed the U.S. Capitol and the state party passed a resolution describing the insurrection as a “false flag” operation.
As of February 1 there are now 753,195 registered Republicans and 1,048,511 registered Democrats in Oregon. The remaining 1,149,795 voters are either unaffiliated with a political party or a member of a minor party.
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