If Hillary Clinton thought she could allege a Republican county supervisor from Arizona who was in Washington D.C., on Jan. 6, 2021, is somehow fueling threats and intimidation, then the former U.S. Secretary of State may be wishing she did better research.
Clinton makes disparaging comments about Cochise County Board Supervisor Peggy Judd in an Aug. 7 article published in The Atlantic. The article, titled “The Weaponization of Loneliness,” advocates for the need to rebuild America’s communities in order to defend against “those who would exploit our social disconnection.”
Judd, one of three supervisors for the 125,000 residents of Cochise County in southeast Arizona, told Arizona Daily Independent that Clinton’s comments were “exactly what I expected her to say” and is just a rehash of what “the far left media” has written about the former state legislator.
“Hillary’s hatred for the right is very obvious,” Judd added. “It’s almost like we aren’t human. Like I’m not human.”
So how did Judd come to be highlighted in Clinton’s article as an example of the “more troubling developments at the local level” of government?
To support the premise of her article, Clinton pulls from an advisory issued in May by Surgeon General Vivek Murthy which warns an “epidemic of loneliness and isolation” threatens the health of Americans and the country.
“Researchers also say that loneliness can generate anger, resentment, and even paranoia,” Clinton wrote, citing Murthy’s advisory. “It diminishes civic engagement and social cohesion, and increases political polarization and animosity.”
But it is not only the surgeon general who recognizes that social isolation saps the lifeblood of democracy, contends Clinton, who lost the presidential race to Donald Trump in 2016.
“So do the ultra-right-wing billionaires, propagandists, and provocateurs who see authoritarianism as a source of power and profit,” she wrote.
Clinton then goes on to blame those who take advantage of social isolation for what happened at the Capitol in January 2021, for mass shootings, and for “other conspiracy theories promoted in far-right echo chambers.”
Judd apparently fits Clinton’s idea of one such far-right provocateur. Yet despite spending much of her article bemoaning how “dangerous lies can fuel violence and undermine our democratic process,” Clinton is cavalier with her comments about Judd.
Clinton describes the 61-year-old Judd as “a middle-aged white woman from Cochise County, Arizona, who participated in the January 6 ‘Stop the Steal’ rally and reportedly promotes Trump’s Big Lie about the 2020 election and QAnon conspiracy theories.”
She goes on the write that “Judd is not just some Facebook gadfly” and is among 200 local officials in six states who “have taken antidemocratic actions” related to elections.
“They’re people you’ve probably never heard of who play vital roles in making our electoral system work,” Clinton added, before decrying the “harassment and abuse” of poll workers that is fueled by “MAGA election denies and Qanon enthusiasts” – people like Judd, she suggests.
But what Clinton failed to mention is that Judd is one of several Republican elected officials who was targeted during the 2022 General Election with harassment and threats, including Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer.
Richer was a recipient of interstate threatening communications from a Texas man sentenced earlier this month to 3.5 years in federal prison. And in April, an Iowa man pleaded guilty to federal charges involving threats made to Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich.
Some of the vulgar and threatening communications Judd received last year have been previously written about. But one voicemail never before publicly revealed was left for Judd on Nov. 22.
In it, a male caller expresses dissatisfaction with Judd’s recent actions involving the 2022 election. He also referred rather ominously to there being “a lot of holes in the desert.”
Judd immediately referred the recording and caller ID information to Detective Sgt. John Gjerde of the Cochise County Sheriff’s Office (CCSO).
Gjerde was able to associate a man’s name with the phone number but no one by that name was found to live in Cochise County, the detective wrote in his official incident report.
“I called the number and the ringtone transferred to an overseas’ ringtone,” Gjerde noted. “No one answered the first time I tried. I tried a second time and a male subject answered.”
The man identified himself as having the same name turned up in Gjerde’s research. His name is not being published as he was not prosecuted.
“He advised he is a Merchant Marine and is currently on a ship in Singapore,” Gjerde noted, adding the man admitted calling Judd earlier that day. “He stated numerous times he was exercising his Constitutional rights to contact elected officials and voice his opinion.”
Gjerde also noted the man denied he made a threat when talking about a lot of holes in the desert. “(The man) advised he would not put his career or family in jeopardy by making threats to a public official,” he added.
Gjerde later advised Judd about his conversation with the caller. The supervisor accepted the man’s explanation, but the following week she received several more vulgar messages from other people.
One of those messages referred to Judd’s numerous young grandchildren. No one has been prosecuted in connection with those communications.
Clinton’s reference to Judd in recent The Atlantic article has even spawned a new round of harassment, with one caller leaving a sarcastic message about Judd being “a queen bee” in trying to steal elections.
READ MORE:
Supervisor Remains Stoic In Face Of Harassing Emails And Scary Voicemails