Washington voters rejected "buffer zones" for signature gatherers in 2013, but Brandi Kruse still wants them

Free speech for me but not for thee is the title of a book, an editorial in Liberty Magazine, and a commentary published by the Heritage Foundation back in the 2010s, and nowadays, it’s also one of the top mantras of Donald Trump’s authoritarian regime, which is working hard to repress speech and media coverage that it doesn’t like.

Amidst the backdrop of Trump’s efforts to silence and get rid of people who criticize him and his lackeys, including late night talk show hosts like Stephen Colbert and Jimmy Kimmel, local right wing podcaster Brandi Kruse is again grumbling about the failure of blatantly unconstitutional legislation that would have encroached on Washingtonians’ cherished First Amendment right to freely assemble in response to petitioning activity — another cherished and protected First Amendment right.

On a Tuesday episode of “undivided” (which is what she calls her show, inspired by The Divide, formerly on KCPQ) Kruse groused that petitioners for Brian Heywood’s latest slate of divisive, destructive initiatives are being harassed, and that legislators ought to have adopted a Republican bill to establish “buffer zones” around wherever someone is petitioning — a bill NPI senior adviser Kathy Sakahara testified against in 2023.

Within seconds of beginning her podcast, Kruse started projecting — which is what pretty much every right wing media figure does nowadays — asserting that it’s Democratic elected officials and activists who are unhinged and extreme:

BRANDI KRUSE: I’m Brandi Kruse. Democrats will shout fascist, fascist, fascist, fascist, fascist, fascist, while they themselves engage in behavior that is far closer to fascism than anything Republicans or conservatives are doing in America today.