The current climate in the political spectrum is incredibly tense thanks to the upcoming presidential election, and those tensions are being released in some of the strangest and scariest ways possible. One prime example of that is a new highway display that has been causing untold levels of controversy across the entire United States. A supporter for Donald Trump is at the center of the scandal, unsurprisingly, and he has caused such an uproar by decorating his highway-adjacent property with certain vitriolic messages.
The main attraction of the display is an effigy of Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton. The effigy has been lynched about 20 feet in the air from a crane, and it is clearly meant to portray the Democratic candidate having been hung from the neck. His property is also adorned with numerous political signs, including several that say things like ‘Vote Trump’, ‘Treason? Ask her’, and ‘Uranium One’. There are also several signs on his property that reference certain far-right conspiracy theories regarding the Environmental Protection Agency and the Bureau of Land Management.
The EPA and the BLM are famously two of the most appealing targets for conspiracy theories to form around, and those on the far-right tend to be the most likely to point toward those theories. The reason behind this is unknown, beyond what is assumed to be a fair amount of misinformation, fear, and ignorance. The man who owns the property and is responsible for the decorations on the land is named Billy Pitner, and he also has several upside down flags on his property, which is a famous symbol of anarchists and those who believe the United States has fallen from her former ‘glory’. In many instances, those who fly the flag upside are purposely disrespecting the flag just as badly as those who refuse to stand for the Pledge of Allegiance.
The sign in Pitner’s yard that reads ‘Uranium One’ is almost certainly a reference to a deal that took place years ago in which Russia purchased excess uranium from the United States in order to boost their power production potential. The far-right political extremists tend to overplay the importance of the transaction, which they claim was brokered by Clinton as a representative of the Clinton Foundation, which received many donations from those same Russian energy companies. However, those far-right naysayers forget that the deal was actually approved by nine individual government agencies and that the donations made to the Clinton Foundation happened long before the deal was struck.
Pitner is using his property to draw attention to a crime that he believes Hillary Clinton committed, despite the lack of evidence that she did such a crime. His determination to defame the Democratic nominee is so deep that he doesn’t even care if he is right or wrong. He simply stated that his decision to act was based on his feelings, and not the facts as they exist. He then goes on to say that his approach garnered the attention he sought, so in a way he was successful. He seems proud of the fact that he is knowledgeably spreading false information since it will lead to a conclusion with which he agrees.
Unfortunately for Pitner, his antics are probably not just seen by the public. He is almost certainly being monitored by the Secret Service as a result of his behavior and threats, and he may even receive a visit from them in the near future to discuss his decision to slander a presidential nominee. However, it is difficult to blame Pitner’s behavior entirely on himself. He is only acting out the message of the Trump campaign and all those who support it, like the far-right political voices of talk radio and Fox News.