Has North Texas Forgotten About The Monstrous Acts Of Beth Van Duyne?

Ignorance or indifference? Have the monstrosities of Beth Van Duyne been overlooked or have we all become numb to the extremists in our lives?

Today on Twitter, Representative Salman Bhojani posted that he was co-hosting a job fair with Congresswoman Beth Van Duyne. Bhojani is one of the two Democratic reps in my town, Arlington. I greatly respect him, but I didn’t understand why he would co-host an event with Van Duyne, knowing her past. Assuming he was unaware of her long history of anti-Muslim activity, I responded to his post, warning him.

Then, I headed over to Van Duyne’s feed to learn more about this so-called job fair, and it turns out it’s her thing, and a ton of politicians are supporting/co-hosting along with her. I’m going down her Twitter list of the elected officials participating… Ted Cruz, Kay Granger, and Michael Burgess… all right-wing fascists. No surprise there. But then I see our love, Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett.

Obviously, she would never be a willing participant in an event with Van Duyne, one of the Republicans who voted to overturn the election on January 6. Would she?

I kept scrolling… more Democrats.

Did all of these Democrats forget about the monstrous acts of Van Duyne? Were they unaware of them? Did they feel that participating in the job fair was better for them politically?

I asked these questions on Twitter. Job fairs are good. We all agree job fairs are a positive thing. It won’t only be Van Duyne there. There will also be a slew of businesses there and over a dozen local chambers of commerce.

And even though Beth Van Duyne is a white supremacist, who tried to overturn the 2020 election, who orchestrated the 2015 anti-Muslim crusade, and who spends a large majority of her time on TV and social media spreading lies about Democrats and immigrants, it’s a job fair. And job fairs are good.

But why would any patriotic red-blooded American who lives with the values of empathy and fairness want to be part of the same event as a woman that once called a 14-year-old child a “terrorist” on the Glen Beck show? Why would any Democrat want to be part of anything Van Duyne does?

But job fairs are good.

Some of the responses included, “Maybe the participants were unaware of her background” or “Maybe they’re looking out for the good of the many (because job fairs are good).” The other responses included, “It’s because of the Liberals’ cultish obsession with bi-partisanship” and “You don’t help fascists with their projects.”

Whatever your opinions about a job fair hosted by Van Duyne and co-hosted by a bunch of Democrats, there is never a bad day to remind everyone about the harm Van Duyne has caused (chronologically, of course). Perhaps, everyone has forgotten, or maybe they’ve chosen not to care, but let’s talk about why they should.

Van Duyne single-handedly started the 2015 anti-Muslim crusade in Texas.

If you were involved or paid attention to politics in 2015, you likely remember the right’s hate vitriol toward the Muslim community. During that time, Van Duyne was awarded her own page on Southern Poverty’s HateWatch. She made national news more than once with her racist and Islamophobic crusade while mayor of Irving, Texas.

To this day, Van Duyne is still the only congressperson with her own page on SPLC.

Van Duyen was born and raised in Upstate New York. She moved down to Texas with her parents when she was 17. However, she soon returned to New York Ivy League, Cornell University. Then after she graduated, she moved back down south to the upscale town of Las Colinas, TX.

Before her big, bright, racist spotlight in 2015, she was unknown nationally. Then, one little Facebook post put her on an ambitious political path.

On February 6, 2015, she made the following Facebook post:

Afterward, Beth Van Duyne as mayor, passed an Anti-Sharia law in the city of Irving. Check out this news clip from a city council meeting. It was a packed house full of people wearing American flag t-shirts and quoting scripture.

This began her career on the national stage.

After Van Duyne’s stupid Facebook post, she strongly supported House Bill 562. Or, as this bill was so dubiously named, the Anti-Sharia Bill (it never passed).

The observers watching the events in early 2015 gawked in horror. Like wildfire, Tea Party conservatives all over Texas fell in line, and Muslims became the Republican target of hate. Mosques were burnt down in Houston, and Republican Molly White went on social media and demanded all Muslims renounce terrorism and pledge allegiance to America. Breitbart announced they were to have a “Draw the Prophet” event.

Looking back now, it’s easy to see the multi-chasmic events which continued to snowball until we got where we are today with right-wing extremism in America.

That wasn’t the only controversy for Beth Van Duyne in 2015.

In September 2015, a 14-year-old Muslim boy who loved science and built a clock was accused of his invention being a bomb. Subsequently, he was arrested at school. This happened in Irving, the town that Van Duyne was the mayor of. She immediately took to Facebook and defended the school’s actions.

Of course, she did what any sane and non-racist person would do. She went on Glen Beck’s show. While on his show, she went along with him when he painted the kid as a co-conspirator in a terror plot against America.

This led to armed protesters outside of Mosques in Irving. They were protesting Van Duyne’s imaginary Sharia Law Court.

Not long after she announced she wouldn’t seek reelection as mayor, Trump appointed her the Regional HUD administrator overseeing urban development in five states. Controversy Followed her to her new job.

It later came out when she was mayor of Irving that she gave McKesson subsidies during the opioid crisis. Unsurprisingly, she defended that decision.

She ran for Congress on being a “single mom,” even though she was a divorcee with two adult children. Unfortunately, she won that election just by a hair.

Van Duyne’s first act in office was voting to overturn the 2020 election.

Of course, it should have been expected as Van Duyne is against the Voting Rights Act and claims “there is no systemic or intended voter suppression occurring in our state.”

So, what has Van Duyne done since she’s been in Congress?

She voted AGAINST the Equality Act, the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, the For the People Act, the American Rescue Plan, the Equal Rights Amendment, and the Violence Against Women Reauthorization.

Beth Van Duyne is against Paycheck Fairness, the January 6th Investigation, protecting workers from discrimination, investing in America, and Consumer Protection.

She voted against voting rights, protecting women’s health, family violence prevention, protecting our democracy, and would you believe she voted against the Combating Islamophobia Act?

And in 2021, one of her staffers drove to her house in Irving and committed suicide in her driveway. We never found out the story behind that incident.

Aside from that, she spends most of her time on right-wing TV and social media telling lies about the border, calling it “an invasion,” and blaming Biden.

But job fairs are good.

It’s called the 2023 North Texas Job Fair. There will be hundreds of companies there looking to hire on August 7.

Some of her other co-hosts include her January 6 cohorts: Ted Cruz, Michale Burgess, Pat Fallon, Ronny Jackson, and Roger Williams.

The Democrats who have signed on to co-host include Jasmine Crockett, Marc Veasy, Nathan Johnson, Salman Bhojani, Nicole Collier, Yvonne Davis, Julie Johnson, Venton Jones, Terry Meza, Victoria Neave Criado, Toni Rose, and Carl Sherman.

The job fair is for everyone’s constituents. Job fairs are good. But it should make everyone uncomfortable knowing Van Duyne’s troubling history. While job fairs serve as positive opportunities for employment, it raises questions about why any Democrat would willingly participate in an event alongside someone like Beth Van Duyne.

It’s important to remind everyone about the harm she has caused and consider the implications of supporting or being associated with her in any capacity.

There are already three Democrats who have challenged her for the 2024 election. She isn’t safe. Perhaps she knows that, and this “bi-partisan” event is specifically made to win voters who haven’t been paying attention to her career.

Remember these things when it’s time to vote again.