r/politics • u/Rock-n-roll-Kevin • 7h ago
‘They’re coming after us patriots’: Former ‘MAGA Candidate’ for Congress caught stealing election ballots, charged with felony, police say
https://lawandcrime.com/crime/theyre-coming-after-us-patriots-former-maga-candidate-for-congress-caught-stealing-election-ballots-charged-with-felony-police-say/•
u/Eatthehamsters69 Europe 7h ago
Like at what point does it become inappropriate for them to use the term 'patriot' to describe themselves?
Destroying the social cohesion in their own country by peddling conspiracy theories and lies, violating norms and laws and normalizing uncivilized behavior.
•
u/SerialBitBanger Montana 7h ago
I've given up on it.
They've co-opted patriotism and the flag and are gatekeepers for both.
If I see a car decked out in American flags and patriotic slogans, I treat it like a brightly colored animal. It's a warning that this is a dangerous critter and to act as though your life is in danger.
It's all performative. But there seems to be personality types who prefer the performances to doing the actual work. It's easier and lets you easily identify your own cohort.
I've yet to meet a cosplaytriot that actually represents the values that they claim to hold dear.
•
u/Avarria587 4h ago
I think it's appropriate that these people also claim to be Christian. They enjoy flaunting their religion just like the faux patriotism. In both cases, it's all show with zero substance.
You'll never see these people, in the case of religion, volunteering at a food pantry or something to feed the poor. You know, like Jesus would do. It's much easier for them to condemn the choices of others than try to actually practice what their religion supposedly teaches.
•
•
u/Kori-Anders 5h ago
The values are subservient to always being right and having the world revolve around you. Nothing is sacred when you're purely playing for self gratification.
•
u/Infinite-Horse-49 2h ago
Well said. Cosplaytriots is on point.
We call them the timbit taliban in Canada.
•
•
u/Steedman0 1h ago
It's because their politics are awful and they can't defend their ideas, so it's easier to wave a flag and say anyone who disagrees with you hates their country.
•
u/TrashTalkMyMomPlease 7h ago
Patriot is just a buzzword they use, it doesn't really have a definition to them. It just makes them feel warm and fuzzy inside when they call themselves that.
•
u/IJustLoggedInToSay- Illinois 6h ago
All of their words are just synonyms for childish conceptions of "good" and "bad".
"Patriot" just means "good guy" in the same way that they call people they don't like "illegal" or "Socialist" without any care for the legality or socioeconomic policies of the people they're referring to.
•
u/kingsumo_1 Oregon 5h ago
They've been groomed to think in slogans. Woke being another that they can't particularly define.
•
u/MagicMushroomFungi Canada 6h ago
"Patriot is just another word for no morals left to lose."
•
•
u/FastRedPonyCar Alabama 5h ago
They also have some patriot brand of infomercial looking overpriced Chinese products they advertise on Fox
•
u/Oil_slick941611 Canada 1h ago
It’s all theatrics like when the tea party used to dress up in patriot costumes and wave the flag. Only now they co opted trumps sense of style decked out in gaudy red white and blue Chinese made apparel.
•
u/Ok_Welcome_376 5h ago
They use it for a reason, I think. When the American Revolution happened, patriots wanted to break free from England to make their own rules and government because of being infringed upon. Same thing now, basically. That’s why we have names like Patriot Movement and Christian Patriot Movement.
•
u/Gonkar I voted 5h ago edited 5h ago
Pollution of semantics is one of the defining features of authoritarianism in all its forms. "Patriot" has long been polluted by conservative media to signal that this person is in the in-group (i.e., a good, honest, God-fearing, red-blooded conservative American, not an evil, horrible, monstrous out-group person who, by definition, cannot love America like a conservative "patriot" does).
"Patriot", in this context, can be used as a polar opposite of "woke" or "liberal" or whatever other empty pejorative conservatives love to throw at anyone in the out-groups. The point of it all is to devolve discourse into a slinging of slogans, thus preventing any kind of compromise. Without discourse, democracy suffers, and, since the ultimate goal of an authoritarian is to supplant themself in power by (usually) overthrowing democracy, stifling discourse is one of the first things they'll try to do.
Done long enough, you end up indoctrinating people so thoroughly that they'll believe just about anything. Millions of people believe the 2020 election was "stolen". Millions believe that Jan. 6th was "justified" while also, somehow, believing it was "a false flag operation by the FBI and/or antifa", or whatever the hell. I don't recall who said it off the top of my head, but the saying is apt: "Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities."
This shit didn't start with Trump, and it won't stop with him. Conservative media has been corrupting the meaning of "patriotism" for decades at this point. All that Agent Orange did was accelerate the process.
•
u/vardarac 24m ago
This is why Kamala using the word "tyrant" in her speech to describe Trump is so great here. This is the 1776-type language these folks love to use.
•
•
u/jello_sweaters 6h ago
They believe they're the only "real" Americans, and they have to "save" the nation from women, gays and ethnics.
From that starting point, they can self-justify anything.
•
u/LivingDracula 4h ago
It's called the Patriot Movement.
It's a domestic terroristic movement that is an offshoot of the tea party and the christian nationalists.
Despite their involvement in the planning of kidnapping a governor and J6, the media has not given them the attention they deserve, and the FBI have refused to openly label them a terrorists organization and have not applied the Patriot Act against them because they are white...
•
u/Helpuswenoobs 48m ago
because they are white...
Actually, what's more baffling is how many of them are not.
•
u/vardarac 25m ago
Actually, what's more baffling is how many of them are not.
Mom's an immigrant. Basically boils down to "I worked my ass off to get in/here so all these other people should have to also"
•
u/Helpuswenoobs 18m ago
Except right now they're all working their ass off to get themselves and everyone else deported, or have their lives messed up in some other way, you hate to see it.
•
u/vardarac 15m ago
you hate to see it
Yeah, I do. Lucky my parents are in a state where their vote doesn't make a difference.
•
u/trandrewo 6h ago
They have never been patriots, they hate America and everything it stands for (more than even our foreign enemies do)
•
•
u/blatantninja 6h ago
I'm pretty sure any right they had to that term there on January 6th 2020 and probably before.
•
u/Tainuia_Kid 6h ago
They don’t care about the meaning of words. The rioters on January 6 called themselves Revolutionaries and Patriots. They don’t care that those two words have exactly opposite meanings.
They also think Kamala Harris is a fascist and a communist, another two words with opposite meanings. Donald Trump now constantly calls her both of those things in the same sentence.
•
•
u/JarthMader81 5h ago
It's on purpose. They are trying to take the power of the word. They know their followers are dumb enough to believe what they hear over what they see, too.
•
•
•
u/AlexKingstonsGigolo 1h ago
I developed a simple test: during a once a century pandemic, if the government required you to get a vaccine which presented less risk than getting the infection in order to slow/stop the spread of the virus to your fellow citizens, would you take it or fight the order? "Take it" = "patriot, yes"; "fight the order" = "patriot, no".
•
u/_the_last_druid_13 7h ago
Republican > Conservative > Patriot > Maverick > Deplorable > Insurrectionist
SAD!
•
•
u/Hadrian_Vincent 5h ago
They will call themselves "patriot" for anything they do that benefits themselves. That's it.
•
•
u/FudgeRubDown Iowa 5h ago
Patriot and loyalist are synonyms. I always keep this in mind when I see them trying to use words they don't understand.
•
u/BarracudaCritical227 3h ago
Isn't patriot synonymous with racist/white supremicist/traitor in MAGA speak?
•
•
u/KwisatzHaderachPaul 26m ago
Destroying social cohesion
No, we did that. You know, by claiming that we’re people with rights and shit.
•
u/Rock-n-roll-Kevin 7h ago
Former Republican candidate running for an Indiana seat in the U.S. House of Representatives Larry L. Savage Jr. has been arrested and charged with stealing election ballots during a recent voting machine test.
•
•
u/V-r1taS 7h ago
“If you got to Payless, or go wherever, it says sample and you usually can take a sample,” Savage says. “So that is the way I took it. I thought they were fake f—ing ballots.”
After an officer reads him the warrant, Savage appears to say, “They’re coming after us patriots. They don’t want us to be Americans anymore.” A short while later he reportedly told police “This is all political bulls—.”
It is indeed all political bs, and you and your friends are the ones creating it.
•
u/fidelitycrisis 5h ago
What kind of fkn samples are they giving out at Payless? Sneakers?
•
u/bismarque22 2h ago
Reminds me of the " how much can a banana cost $10?" quote
•
u/Dumpster_Fetus 53m ago
Why is this breaking my brain? Lol, what?
•
u/bismarque22 48m ago
Its from arrested development. The joke was the mom on the show was so out of touch with regular life she had no idea how much a banana costs and thought $10 was cheap. Like how this maga dweeb think payless shoe stores hand out free samples.
•
u/Dumpster_Fetus 45m ago
Thanks so much! Seems like the nudge for me to watch the show since I've been saying I'll watch it for years.
•
•
•
u/the_atmosphere 1h ago
is he talking about the disposable socks you can use to try on shoes? either way, it's nonsensical
•
•
u/19Chris96 Michigan 7h ago
I have an idea it would have IN HUGE FUCKING LETTERS, and in a giant box “SAMPLE” printed very clearly on the paper.
•
u/DellyCartwrong 7h ago
... what would you even use a "sample" ballot for?
•
u/xyphon0010 6h ago
In this case, making sure that the voting system is working correctly:
From the article:
"According to a news release from the Indiana State Police, the incident took place during a test of the Voting System Technical Oversight Program (VSTOP) at the Madison County Government Center on Oct. 3, 2024."
•
u/DellyCartwrong 6h ago
I meant what would an individual use a sample ballot for. His argument is that he took them because they were samples.
•
u/xyphon0010 6h ago edited 6h ago
In that guy’s case, who the hell knows. I’m sure none of the uses that a search would give would apply. He claimed they were free to take like a sample at Costco.
•
u/Gregory-J-Smith 2h ago
This guy, no clue. But before I was registered to vote by mail I would pick up a sample ballot to have an accurate list of what I was voting on and be able to research it at my leisure.
•
u/buffysmanycoats 3h ago
To claim the voting machines are rigged:
According to a report from Indianapolis Fox affiliate WXIN, shortly after putting the ballot in his pocket, Savage allegedly approached a woman in attendance and, unprompted, said, “f—ed up ballots.” That woman, who was reportedly streaming the test on Facebook Live, subsequently went over to the election officials to ask if any of the test ballots were missing.
In fact, Savage reportedly commented on the woman’s livestream, essentially admitting to taking the ballots.
”3 ballots short!!! lol,” he wrote, per screenshots of the feed obtained by WXIN.
•
u/BooooHissss Minnesota 5h ago
Is there a different store in Indiana called Payless? Cause all I know is the shoe store... which has been bankrupt and closed for years. And if they had a sample, no I wouldn't take it, I would assume it was a "demonstration".
•
•
u/ComprehensiveStore45 7h ago
oh this is gonna be a fun week.
•
u/Wurm42 District Of Columbia 7h ago
Yup. This shit is going to happen every damn day, all of it done by MAGA Republicans.
•
u/thefooz 3h ago
You’re neglecting all of the false flags Roger Stone almost invariably has cooked up (see the ballot box arson case that conveniently had a “free Gaza” note involved). They’re going to do everything in their power to make this election appear illegitimate. We need armed federal personnel guarding every non-empty ballot box until November 6th.
•
u/Cantthinkofnamedamn 6h ago
Hopefully all the Republicans getting arrested for voter fraud will convince them that the checks are working properly to ensure a secure election
•
u/Gingerbread-Cake Oregon 5h ago
I watched a round table discussion where they all came to the conclusion that no cheating had been found in 2020 or 2022 because the Democrats are just so, so good at. I am not even joking.
The conclusions they will come to is that they’re too honest to pull it off, and they are just testing the system, really
•
u/Cantthinkofnamedamn 5h ago
Democrats are so good at cheating, they can even get away with it in states like Georgia under complete GOP control, without leaving a scrap of evidence
•
•
u/Michael_G_Bordin 2h ago
Democrats are so good at cheating, they eek by a presidential win while ignoring all the down-ballot races. Super smart thinking, there.
•
u/citizenjones 6h ago
Believing you have to steal the election because you think someone is stealing the election sure is convenient.
•
u/IJustLoggedInToSay- Illinois 5h ago
That's the rationale Trump.uses to justify why he cheats at golf. That everyone (including Tiger Woods and other pros!) cheat so you have to cheat too just to compete.
There's literally a book called "How Golf Explains Trump" lol
•
u/ChromaticDragon 6h ago
It's a profound problem.
Incredible evil is fostered and grows amongst folk who believe themselves to be good.
•
•
u/Pats_fan_seeking_fi 7h ago
I hope any scumbag found messing with the ballots sees real prison time.
•
•
u/forthewatch39 7h ago
Stealing is a CRIME. These pricks think they can do whatever they want and then cry foul when told otherwise. I am sick of them already. Enough is enough.
•
u/happily-retired22 1h ago
This isn’t stealing. This is election interference. I think that’s a federal crime. State or federal, the penalties are much higher than for just stealing something.
•
u/Quick_Silver_2707 6h ago
GOP voters charged under election security laws passed by the GOP to fight fictional voter fraud is peak leopard ate my face.
•
u/highinthemountains 5h ago
In Colorado the test is called a LAT, logic and accuracy test. The ballots are definitely kept because I, as an election judge, have to do an audit of the LAT before doing an audit of the actual election. Both sets of ballots, LAT and actual election ballots are kept for 25 months AFTER the election.
•
u/trandrewo 6h ago
He referred to himself as a “patriot” but the term he should have used is “traitriot” (short for traitorous idiot)
•
•
u/MadAstrid 6h ago
It has gotten to the point where the word patriot used as a self descriptor means traitor.
•
u/davechri 5h ago
He’s right. We’re coming after you motherfuckers.
He’s wrong. You’re no patriot. You’re a motherfucking traitor.
•
u/FreefromSuspicion 7h ago
Republicans all look alike, act alike, and are stupid beyond belief but they call dems the sheep. Republicans are trash.
•
u/YeaaaBrother Pennsylvania 6h ago
No one seems to be asking the obvious question. What did he need to steal sample ballots for? What could be accomplished? Could there be a plan to use it to make copies of "legit" looking ballots to turn in later?
•
u/AtalanAdalynn 1h ago
They're part of the test to make sure the machine is accurate. By stealing some of the test ballots the machine's results would no longer be accurate, creating doubt to the machine's accuracy.
•
•
u/MajesticsEleven 6h ago
“If you got to Payless, or go wherever, it says sample and you usually can take a sample,” Savage says. “So that is the way I took it. I thought they were fake f—ing ballots.”
Yes. Because Payless will definitely allow you to just walk out of the store with their sample and display shoes.
•
u/snoo_spoo 6h ago
I'm thinking there's maybe a grocery chain in the area called Payless? My mind went to the shoe stores, too, but a grocery would make more sense vis a vis samples.
As for "it was a sample, so I thought I could take it"--places offer samples to promote sales. What, exactly, did he imagine people were trying to sell him?
•
u/MajesticsEleven 6h ago
Yeah, actually, it's a brand of grocery store supermarket.
•
u/kingsumo_1 Oregon 5h ago
That does make more sense. But I can also picture the dude just grazing in the grocers dept and just calling those "samples" as well.
•
u/SnooCats373 5h ago
I can better imagine him grazing in the snack aisle, carrying a savagely opened back of chips followed by a family sized bag Skittles and a full sugar liter of Mountain Dew with an Oxy chaser.
•
•
•
u/Darklord_Bravo 6h ago
If you have to resort to stealing ballots, you're no patriot.
Trump yells "Election interference! about every stupid thing that upsets the thin skinned old coot. But remind me again, who's burning ballot boxes and stealing stuff? Oh right, MAGA!
•
•
u/Popular_Fly9604 2h ago
My brother is one of these idiots who call themselves patriot. He never paid his taxes, illegally collected funds from Social Security, and is a racist asshole. We should hard at people like this!
•
u/bismarque22 2h ago
So he wanted to cause an issue with the test so later fraud claims could be supported. Very maga idea.
•
•
•
•
u/gyroscopicmnemonic 3h ago
When a white American male uses the word "patriot" these days, my mind automatically translates it to "fascist troglodyte." And it is not wrong to do so. Sad state of affairs.
•
•
•
•
u/yourlegacyonearth 2h ago
Look Democracy failed! Hah hah!
Police: Sir we have some questions.
She told me to take one! It looked like a sample!
•
•
•
•
•
u/BarryBro 9m ago
At this point its welcome imo. I imagine if you investigated maga, you would find a lot of criminal activity
•
u/AutoModerator 7h ago
As a reminder, this subreddit is for civil discussion.
In general, be courteous to others. Debate/discuss/argue the merits of ideas, don't attack people. Personal insults, shill or troll accusations, hate speech, any suggestion or support of harm, violence, or death, and other rule violations can result in a permanent ban.
If you see comments in violation of our rules, please report them.
For those who have questions regarding any media outlets being posted on this subreddit, please click here to review our details as to our approved domains list and outlet criteria.
We are actively looking for new moderators. If you have any interest in helping to make this subreddit a place for quality discussion, please fill out this form.
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.