For the second time this week, a die-hard Minnesota Democrat has found himself in hot water Friday after using the word “murder” on social media to describe the work of the American military.
In this case, a U.S. Marine son of U.S. Rep. Tom Emmer was the target.
On Friday afternoon, the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party announced that Laine Scheuble, a volunteer “director” for the 6th Congressional District DFL, had resigned his position as a result.
In its own tweet, the party called Scheuble’s tweet “reprehensible.”
Regardless, he is not a spokesperson for the DFL and the reprehensible tweet he sent does not reflect our values in any way. The Minnesota DFL will always support the men and women of our armed forces and our veterans. (2/2)
— Minnesota DFL Party (@MinnesotaDFL) June 21, 2019
Here’s what happened:
On Thursday, Emmer, a Republican representing the 6th District, which stretches from St. Cloud to Stillwater, tweeted a selfie taken by his wife Jaquie and their son, Billy, with this comment: “Congratulations to my son Billy for completing basic training and becoming a United States Marine! My wife Jacquie and I are so proud of him, and his commitment to serving our country.”
Congratulations to my son Billy for completing basic training and becoming a United States Marine! My wife Jacquie and I are so proud of him, and his commitment to serving our country. pic.twitter.com/evoJt7No9D
— Tom Emmer (@RepTomEmmer) June 20, 2019
In a reply, Scheuble tweeted this: “Can’t wait to hear about all the Iranian civilians he murdered after you and the GOP finish the garbage kabuki theatre false flags and invade Iran #HandsOffIran #ProtectIran #BloodForOil #PeaceInTheEast.”
The tweet was no longer visible Friday afternoon, but the Republican Party of Minnesota circulated a screenshot of it.
Emmer [has] publicly responded.
Who willingly signs up to murder others when your socioeconomic status doesn’t demand it? 🤔 The US military is beholden to the military industrial complex and the Saudis: kids that join are dying so they can make another buck. All while civilians get killed in the crossfire.
— Masyla (@Masyla_GG) June 22, 2019
I won’t apologize for my tweet: stop asking about it. The point was to draw attention to the fact we fucked up in Iraq, massively, and Iran will be the same. No kid should be a murderer especially when his economic status doesn’t demand it. Vile.
— Masyla (@Masyla_GG) June 22, 2019
The party as well as at least one elected Republican seized on the tweet as offensive and used it to criticize the DFL Party as a whole for the second such incident this week.
‘MURDER BOAT’
On Sunday, DFL staffer William Davis in a tweet called the freshly christened USS Minneapolis-Saint Paul a “murder boat,” drawing similar rebukes, including from Gov. Tim Walz, a Democrat, who called it “appalling.”
Davis held two paid positions in the DFL: research director and deputy communications director. He apologized over the tweet, deleted his Twitter account, and was removed from the communications post. He remains the party’s research director.
WHO IS SCHEUBLE?
Scheuble is not a paid staffer for the party, but rather an active DFLer who was elected to the position of “director” last month in a convention of a subdivision of the DFL — the subdivision that encompasses the 6th Congressional District.
He did not respond to a request for comment from the Pioneer Press Friday. His twitter feed, as of Friday, included strong Democratic opinions, including more than a few that used profanity.
DFL spokesman Brian Evans issued the following statement Friday:
“Congressional district directors are unpaid volunteers whose responsibility is sitting on their congressional district’s central committee, which work on supporting endorsed candidates and filling party vacancies between conventions in accordance with the state bylaws and constitution. It is the chairs and vice-chairs that lead their local organizing units, not local unit directors.
“At every social media training the DFL has hosted recently, we have repeatedly encouraged volunteers to maintain a respectful social media presence and stay focused on working to elect DFLers and improve the lives of Minnesotans everywhere. Social media training is an important and ongoing part of our communications training program and we will continue working to ensure DFL staff, activists, and volunteers comport themselves respectfully online.”
The Republican Party statement read, in part, ” … following a mere slap on the wrist to the DFL’s former spokesperson for saying the same, it seems other military hating Democrats feel emboldened to voice their opinions against our troops.”
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© 2019 the Pioneer Press (St. Paul, Minn.)
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
