Journalists Share How They Navigate Threats in Today’s Politics

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Things are heating up politically, but for some reporters and commentators on the west side, it has gotten too personal.

Three conservative journalists working in the Puget Sound said the situation has gotten so bad, they have all hired security guards to accompany them at public events. They shared their stories at a forum at the annual Roanoke Conference Jan. 24.

Conservative commentator Brandi Kruse, who has four open cases concerning threat and assault toward her, said many cases aren’t prosecuted.

“I was sprayed in the eye with wasp killer at an ICE riot in Tukwila in June and there were also two individuals who assaulted me. All of it is on camera. I did a lineup with police in Tukwila three, four months ago and I picked the person out. They know who it is. They still haven’t arrested him,” said Kruse.

Ari Hoffman, a conservative talk show host on 570 KVI and contributor and associate editor of The Post Millenial, said he has had so many death threats that he was recently reminded of one he had forgotten.

Seattle police referred one case to prosecution, but the prosecutor’s office didn’t file charges. A few months later, the same person made a death threat against the governor.

“If prosecutors had done their job when I was getting threats, there never would have been the threat on the governor,” Hoffman said.

He said he now wears a bullet proof vest at public events.

“When I go out to cover events, I need to bring security guards with me. Brandi needs to bring security guards with her. Jonathan [Cho] needs to bring security guards with him, and anybody on The Stranger doesn’t need to do that. So, why do you think that is? You gotta look around and see where this stuff is coming from,” said Hoffman.

“My husband won’t let me go without security guards,” said Kruse, whose husband is a state patrol officer. “We had to have security for teenage girls who are trying to share their perspective that they don’t want to play against boys.”

“The left literally believes that words are violence. Violence isn’t violence, but words are definitely violence. It makes no sense,” she added.

Jonathan Cho, a journalist with the Discovery Institute who came to the forum from an antifa protest in Portland, said he relies on his faith to keep him safe.

“I’m a Christian and the Bible says more than 300 times, “Do not be afraid.” That’s what gets me going each day.”

Protecting Free Speech

Kruse warned about the right falling into the same trap as the left.

“If we believe in the First Amendment and protected speech, we have to model that behavior. We can criticize speech, but I think getting into the cancel culture that the left got into that sent our country down this spiral is really the wrong way to go.”

Hoffman, who is Jewish, praised the conservatives’ response in the wake of the assassination of conservative commentator Charlie Kirk.

“You saw a massive memorial on stage, which was a religious revival, and I’m like, wow, church is a lot more fun than synagogue. That was really, really inspiring to see, and it could have gone the other way,” he said.

Crossing the Line

One person from the audience, visibly moved by Charlie Kirk’s assassination, asked when violence would be appropriate as retaliation. Hoffman responded that everyone has a line they won’t allow to be crossed and his was the Second Amendment, but that line is different for every person. He cautioned that the Jan. 6 riots are “exactly what [the left] wants.”

When asked a similar question, Kruse responded with support for Pierce County Sheriff Keith Swank, who, in response to a bill that would mandate qualifications for elected sheriffs and allow their removal from elected office if they are decertified by a commission, said the following:

“I don’t recognize your authority to impose these controls over me. And when you try to remove me from office, thousands of Pierce County residents will surround the County City Building in downtown Tacoma and will not allow that to happen. I hope it doesn’t come to that. But they are prepared. Are you prepared?”

Kruse, who said she has has been criticized by Swank in the past, expressed her support for Swank on this.

“Could he have chosen his words better? But at the end of the day, if they did try to remove a duly elected sheriff from office for no reason, I would be outside that building. I’m not saying I would use violence necessarily, but… this country was built on political violence.”

“If it got to the point where our life, liberty and our pursuit of happiness was being crushed to such an extent, we might have an uprising in this country. I don’t think we want it…. There may come a time in any country, in any nation. Look at what’s happening in Iran.”

An audience member asked the panelists, “how do we get back to ‘love your enemy?'” Kruse, 37, responded, “Well, our enemy has to stop trying to kill us first,” before expressing hope in the next generation, who has known nothing but political division.

“I think this next generation is having a little bit of a revolt against these things that have really poisoned society, and so I’m hoping that maybe they can turn things around. The social media is what did this to our country… We stopped seeing people and building relationships and interpersonal relationships and lost the skill to do that, to see other people as humans, and that is in large part responsible for the violence as well. You don’t see it as a human being, flesh and blood. You see it as your enemy. So, maybe all social media companies will collapse and we can just get back to talking to people.”

Bifurcation in Journalism

The panelists addressed a divide among journalists in what gets reported. They chastised mainstream media for not holding antifa and other left wing demonstrators accountable in the same way they do right wing demonstrators. They also chastised local mainstream media for not reporting about day care fraud in Washington State.

Hoffman said KOMO picked up the child care fraud story in Washington after they saw how much interest it was getting on other sites.

“They’re the only mainstream outlet that is covering the fraud, and that’s because they saw the reaction it was getting online,” said Hoffman.

Cho went further and advocated for citizen journalism, telling the audience to “stop relying on mainstream media and tell your own story.” He invited people to have honest personal conversations.

The event was moderated by Sue Lani Madsen of Washington Rural Environmental Network (WREN). She also works with Braver Angels, an organization that promotes dialogue with opposing viewpoints.