Kari Lake’s top campaign adviser jokes about sending journalists to ‘the gulag’ – then goes the extra mile

A senior adviser to the current US Senate is hopeful Kari Lake has called for journalists to be “sent to the gulag” over a seemingly mundane conversation a reporter had with a Democratic election consultant who casts the vote for Vice President Kamala Harris.

Pressed on the issue, top GOP operative Caroline Wren – who was closely involved the January 6, 2021 ‘March to Save America’ rally that gave rise to the subsequent riot at the US Capitol – called the media the “enemy of the people,” disparaging reporters as humorless drones who can’t take a joke and repeating her desire to see them locked up in labor camps like Donald Trump retakes the White House.

Wren posted her original response to X on Sunday evening, in response to a tweet from Brahm Resnika journalist at NBC affiliate KPNX/12 News in Phoenix, Arizona, who said he heard a knock on his door at home a few minutes earlier.

“Convo with Dem canvasser: ‘Is (your son) home?’” Read Resnik’s tweet. “Me: ‘No. He moved out of state several years ago. How many doors have you knocked on?’ She: ‘Thousands. We are dealing with voters who have moved people or dead people.” #BattlegroundAZ”

While others shared similar experiences, with one area researcher say he is a “(l)a lot of empty houses, people who had moved away, etc.,” Wren apparently interpreted things very differently, tweet“Brahm Resnik is blatantly promoting election fraud here. He should be the first journalist sent to the gulag.”

When The independent When Wren asked to comment on the post on Monday, she first texted three “rolling on the floor laughing” emojis, followed by a swipe at the media in general.

“I know humor is lost on journalists, but the Gulag reference is a running joke among those of us with a sense of humor,” Wren responded.

In response to a follow-up question about how this kind of talk can be misinterpreted as a call to action rather than a joke, amid Donald Trump’s incessant rhetoric about the press as “the enemy of the people,” and during a recent rally that he wouldn’t mind if the reporters covering the event were shot, Wren texted back: “The press is the enemy of the people.”

“Where did Trump say he wants to put journalist (sic) in the gulag?” Wren wrote. “If he does, I hope Brahm is the first.”

To the idea of ​​reporters being killed for doing their jobs, Wren responded by texting an “eye-roll” emoji, followed by “Thoughts and prayers.”

Resnik declined to comment.

Trump has long cheered the specter of violence against members of the media. Over the course of his political career, Trump has described a reporter being hit by a police officer’s rubber bullet as “a beautiful sight,” based on reports of the then-Republican party’s body. Greg Gianforte, who beat up a journalist in 2018, has openly fantasized about jailing journalists who protected the identities of their sources, and regularly turns his mob against reporters there to report on the goings-on. In the past eight weeks alone, Trump launched more than a hundred attacks on the press. said Reporters Without Borders (RSF).

“Trump’s tirades against the press have become so common that we risk not even noticing them anymore,” the nonprofit said in a statement. “But the regularity of Trump’s abuses only adds to the urgency to expose them. The dangers of becoming numb to Trump’s attacks on the media cannot be overstated – what starts as a verbal insult can easily spiral into something much more serious if left unchecked. RSF is deeply concerned that violent rhetoric can easily lead to violent actions.”

So far in 2024, approximately 75 journalists in the United States have been physically assaulted. according to the Freedom of the Press Foundation. The organization’s data shows that since 2017, 321 journalists have been shot or shot at, 374 have been attacked by private citizens and seven have been attacked by politicians.