Unfortunately, it’s been a week full of political violence and intimidation, both at home and across the seas. It kicked off with the murder of Charlie Kirk, was continued by an apparent violent assault, claimed by far-left militants, on political activists associated with Clann Éireann, and was topped off by Iona Institute CEO David Quinn receiving a letter claiming to contain anthrax.
I shouldn’t say “topped off,” because arguably the worst of these is still unfolding, and there’s only one man doing anything about it: Senator Gerard Craughwell.
Yesterday evening, Senator Craughwell noted with concern that a fan-run ‘Maria Steen for President’ account had posted on X, the names, numbers and photos of three senators that the anonymous admin believed could still offer Ms Steen their nominations. Mr Craughwell was not included amongst the three, but by God did he take issue with the targeting of his fellow senators.
“This is nothing short of intimidation and whoever is behind it is doing more damage than good. I will not be signing any nomination. Im disgusted,” he wrote in response to the fan account’s post.
A couple of important pieces of context here. Firstly, the fan account was asking for nothing more from X-users than run-of-the-mill political campaigning. “Please contact the following senators asking them to #NominateMaria,” they wrote. The sort of behaviour that characterises a healthy democratic process, and that is engaged in by constituents in and out of election seasons, in relation to every kind of issue.
Secondly, none of the information – or the images – posted by the fan account were private. All are publicly available. Indeed, as yours truly pointed out in response to Mr Craughwell’s indignation, the Oireachtas website must seem a good deal more threatening to him in light of this, displaying as it does the phone numbers, emails, and pictures of Oireachtas members.
Anyway, facing some significant backlash from members of the public who, from what I imagine is Senator Craughwell’s perspective, nonsensically argued that they have a right to engage with and lobby their, eh, public representatives, Mr Craughwell doubled down.
“Like it or lump it this was intimidation. No.problem with.providing names and email addresses but photographs was that necessary. Maria Steen needs to condemn this for what it is and was intended to be,” he wrote a short while after the initial post.
I haven’t asked Mrs Steen whether she’s aware of this random fan account seeking her nomination, but I think it’s highly likely, running an actual presidential campaign and looking after her five children at the same time, that she isn’t. The idea that she needed to come out and condemn the – innocent – actions of a stranger on the internet however likely shifted the discussion into territory even the most ardent devotees of Senator Craughwell were uncomfortable with.
Nevertheless, he wasn’t to be deterred, because clearly, he sought out reassurance from Mrs Steen all the same. “I am assured by Maria Steen that neither she nor any member of her campaign had anything to do with this post. I fully accept this assurance. I wish Ms Steen well in her campaign,” he said in his final post on the matter (for now).
To recap the situation, we have a sitting senator aghast at an anonymous member of the public posting publicly-available images and contact details of his fellow senators, in the vain hope that they might play a role in facilitating a greater diversity of candidate choice in the upcoming presidential election following peaceful lobbying from other social media users.
No amount of political nous and panicked posting is going to shift public opinion on this one I fear, Senator Craughwell, terrible though it is. Until your message seeps through to the apathetic masses, political violence, intimidation and healthy engagement with the democratic process are going to be the orders of the day, I fear.