Keisha Bottoms, who currently serves as a senior advisor to President Joe Biden, took to the airwaves over the weekend to warn about MAGA Republicans planning to "essentially destroy the United States of America."
"There is a Republican MAGA agenda that gives no consideration to rule of law," Bottoms said.
"When you have a MAGA Republican agenda that has no respect for the Constitution, that has no respect for free and fair elections, then it is important for all of us, not just the president...to call it out...It is a danger to our democracy; it is a danger to our way of life," she added.
What makes Bottoms' assertion laughable is that when she was mayor of Atlanta during the BLM riots of 2020, she had a hands-off approach when the resistance became too much. This was exemplified by the autonomous zone that BLM protesters set up in the aftermath of the justified police shooting of Rayshard Brooks.
Taking place not long after the chaos in Minneapolis following George Floyd's death, Brooks being shot by police after he fought the officers and attempted to use one of their tasers on them sparked another round of protests that didn't always remain peaceful. The Wendy's near where he was shot was burned down, and people blocked off traffic to the area. Police were often not allowed within the zone or were chased out of the area.
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While there were peaceful moments within the small zone, fights and gunfire were common, especially at night. It operated in a similar way to Seattle's CHAZ/CHOP, but the reason why Atlanta's BLM zone did not receive as much attention from the media as CHAZ did was due to the fact that people involved in Atlanta's zone were not taking to social media to advertise it as such. In one shooting inside the zone that resulted in multiple rounds being fired, one young woman was hit by a bullet.
The zone operated for a while before it was eventually cleaned out by police and city workers in early July.
The BLM zone was one of the more egregious examples of law and order breaking down under Bottoms' watch. While there was no need to crack down on peaceful protesters, the zone in Atlanta was a dangerous place to be if you were not seen as part of the movement.
