Panos Anastasiou, 76, was arrested on Wednesday after a federal grand jury returned an indictment charging him with 9 counts of making threats against a federal judge and 13 counts of making threats in interstate commerce.
He was charged as a result of such things as "at least 465 messages" on the court's website, which is among other things a sign of mental difficulties.
The threats were made to "six justices," which suggests he targeted conservative justices. It would be curious if this was the first problem arising from someone in his 70s. I have not found much yet about his background though Newsweek noted:
Anastasiou has no public party voter registration, according to records obtained by Newsweek. However, according to the Federal Election Commission, he has donated $786 to ActBlue, a fundraising platform for Democratic candidates. The most recent donation was on July 25. On March 8, he donated his highest amount of $50.
Some of the usual suspects selectively used this to argue that opponents of the Supreme Court, particularly liberals, were to blame. As I have noted earlier, threats to judges have been a problem for years. Justice Sotomayor was threatened.
Trump is a leading spewer of violent rhetoric. Democrats, from Biden on down, strongly oppose violence, including violent rhetoric. They support peaceful protest and change.
The danger to the judiciary was flagged by this news:
Kentucky judge shot and killed in his chambers by sheriff, officials say.
The latest threat might have some minor Democratic connections (small donations) but his homosexual and racist rants are not very liberal. The two attempts on Trump's life also come off as unhinged solo efforts with even less liberal backgrounds.
The second person was more concerned about Trump not being a fit person to win as compared to other Republicans. This should not be a partisan issue. It's about threats to our peaceful institutions.
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