Butterflies have become the GQP's latest target. More specifically, the National Butterfly Center near the border in TX has been threatened and bullied into shutting down for the weekend after QNuts attending the nearby "We Stand America" event accused the center of drug and human trafficking. More than that, the GQP group threatened the Center and folks who work there, even trying to run a worker down.
A bizarre, incredibly disturbing notice sent out by the butterfly sanctuary explains. Here is part of it:
We are writing to let you know the National Butterfly Center will be closed Friday, Jan. 28 – Sunday, Jan. 30, due to credible threats we have received from a former state official, regarding activities planned by the We Stand America event, taking place in McAllen, TX, this weekend. …
This MAGA, mid-term election rally, hosted by Trump's former National Security Advisor and pardoned-criminal, retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, is the national, kick-off event for what they are calling their "Take Action Tour."
We were alerted to this event on Friday, Jan. 21, following a visit by a congressional candidate from Virginia. She appeared with a friend, who claimed to be a Secret Service agent, and demanded access to the river so they could "see the rafts with the illegal crossing" our property. (See fake photo of rafts at our dock composed and disseminated by Kolfage & crew.) When asked to leave, they attempted to film Marianna, while reiterating the malicious and defamatory lies of Steve Bannon and Brian Kolfage, whose concerted, public attacks against the North American Butterfly Association, the National Butterfly Center, and our director, Marianna, remain the subject of the lawsuit we have brought against their "dark money" fundraising organization, We Build the Wall. (See false Kolfage tweet claiming butterflies swarming a decomposing body.) …
As the Virginia candidate fled the center, she tried to run over Marianna's son, who was filling in at the visitor's pavilion. Nick was trying to close the front gate to prevent the candidate and her friend from leaving with Marianna's phone, which they had taken from her after knocking her to the ground outside the pavilion. All of this was caught on our security cameras, and the visitor who witnessed the attempted aggravated assault with a deadly weapon on Nick called 9-11. It took Mission Police Department more than an hour to respond…
We made the difficult decision to close the center when Marianna was advised by the former state official (whose daughter is the Hidalgo County GOP chairperson) that she should be armed at all times or out of town this weekend, because the We Stand America events include a "Trump Train"-style, "caravan to the border." He said the National Butterfly Center would likely be a stop on this "take action tour," and she and the center are targets.
And here's a little more background, from Daily Dot:
The email from the Center makes it clear that the grounds themselves are in direct danger from conference attendees who intend to form a "rolling car protest," described as a 'Trump Train'-style "caravan to the border" that will likely make a stop at the National Butterfly Center. The Center's location just minutes away from the Rio Grande has made it a hotbed of conspiracy theories and rumors, which claim it's a hub of drug smuggling and human trafficking. Many of these rumors are pushed by Brian Kolfage, the leader of an eight-figure fundraising effort to privately build Trump's border wall
Kolfage, who has called the Center's employees "butterfly freaks" running a "sham" sanctuary devoted to profiting off human misery, has pushed the theories hard, including sharing doctored photos of rafts at a dock outside the Butterfly Center. He's also spammed Wright with violent threats over Twitter, eventually resulting in his account being suspended. Kolfage himself is not speaking at the event, presumably because he's currently under indictment for wire fraud and tax evasion due to allegedly stealing from the We Build The Wall nonprofit he founded.
Despite there being no evidence of trafficking or smuggling being run through the Center, the MAGA faithful have already started to make it a target. The email blast described an incident that went from troubling to potentially deadly when on Friday, Jan. 21, an unnamed "congressional candidate from Virginia" showed up with someone claiming to be a Secret Service agent, and "demanded access to the river so they could 'see the rafts with the illegal crossing' our property."
This weekend's "border patrol" event is the same creep-fest we posted about Monday, where "gun"-ho Michael Flynn will be camping out. His "Take Action" event will promote "Border Law Enforcement," "Biblical Citizenship," and "Election Integrity from a Biblical Worldview." Fun times.
