@HollyFrench17 Hi everyone. I'm glad to take this opportunity to respond to this latest attack on me, preposterous as it may be. I am just an average girl from central Florida, the eldest daughter of a Naval aviator and a first generation Italian-American mom. I also happen to be queer.

@HollyFrench17 Normally I don't put that up front, but since Putin hates gays, it needs to be said. It also informs some of my opinions, but more on that in a moment.

thehill.com/blogs/congress…

@HollyFrench17 I have a mostly public education, and while I am proud of my degrees, I rarely talk about them unless there is a specific reason to do so. Some people use their degrees as a cudgel to lend expertise to their position. I prefer to state my case and let the reader decide.

@HollyFrench17 So, dear reader, before @HollyFrench17 blocks me (it's inevitable), let me state my reasons for leaving the democrats in the rear view and you can decide for yourselves if I am educated, level headed and compassionate or a Russian spy/traitor.

@HollyFrench17 I consider myself a third-wave feminist, so I while I did most of my charitable giving to the Human Rights Campaign (and they still have my support) I was happy to be able to donate small sums to Emily's List even while still in graduate school.

@HollyFrench17 In 2014, I discovered a GOP candidate for the US Senate - Dr. Monica Wehby. She is a simply amazing neurosurgeon who was pro-choice. I was stunned to discover that Emily's List was actively supporting the democratic man who was running against her.

healthgrades.com/physician/dr-m…

@HollyFrench17 I knew Emily's list was a democrat supporting org, and didn't really expect them to support this amazing woman, but I thought at least they wouldn't oppose her. But party was more important than electing an excellent woman. So I dropped supporting them.

@HollyFrench17 More importantly, I started questioning the legitimacy of organizations like these. I discovered from my very catholic mom that the democrats had astro-turfed an organization called Catholics United to undermine the single voice with which catholics speak against abortion.

@HollyFrench17 Since I am an atheist who supports a right to choose (at least through the first trimester) I wasn't terribly upset by this, but it's a data point I filed away.

lifesitenews.com/opinion/cathol…

@HollyFrench17 Then comes the 2016 Election. I liked Bernie. I thought he would be a disaster in foreign affairs and I wasn't going to vote for him, but I liked him like you like someone who's spectacularly right on some things and also spectacularly wrong on others.

@HollyFrench17 I watched what happened at the Nevada state convention. realclearpolitics.com/video/2016/05/…

@HollyFrench17 I believe Jeff Weaver is 100% correct and that politifact had this to say made me doubt them, not Jeff Weaver.

politifact.com/nevada/stateme…

@HollyFrench17 Still, I was going to vote for Hillary. How awesome was it going to be to have a woman running for President!!

Then something happened. The State Department IG released his report. I read it. Yes, the actual report. You can too:

scribd.com/doc/313806901/…

@HollyFrench17 I knew the FBI was investigating, but to me it was abundantly clear as an attorney that 18 USC §1924 had been egregiously and willfully violated. It didn't take a law degree to know she had lied under oath as well. Read the statute for yourself.

law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18…

@HollyFrench17 So I did some research and it wasn't pretty.

nytimes.com/1996/01/08/opi…

@HollyFrench17 politifact.com/truth-o-meter/…

@HollyFrench17 Then there was the Libya affair. No need to go into it, but I decided there was no way I could vote for this person or the party that would overlook this. The fact is that everything Hillary has life is a result of marrying Bill.

observer.com/2016/07/nobody…

@HollyFrench17 Speaking of which, did you know that his DODT and DOMA are responsible for more gays being tossed from the military than any other policy and stymieing marriage equality for decades respectively?

@HollyFrench17 She was against marriage equality long before she was for it and only when it became popular did her position change.

@HollyFrench17 I still want a woman president, but one who has earned it through her own endeavors. So I had to look at the alternatives. I like Dr. Jill, but I don't agree with her on almost anything. I like Johnson, but I don't want a President who is always stoned.

@HollyFrench17 Little known fact. Trump doesn't touch alcohol because it killed his brother. I respect that. Anyway . . .

@HollyFrench17 As you might recall, we were being treated to a weekly dose of gays being killed by ISIS for several years.

mirror.co.uk/news/world-new…

@HollyFrench17 A sampling

thesun.co.uk/news/3203292/i…

@HollyFrench17 cnn.com/2015/03/05/mid…

@HollyFrench17 If you aren't queer, you can't know how this feels, you just can't.
Obama dropped a bomb every 20 minutes in 2016 and few of us cared. I bet the person who just accused me of lacking compassion doesn't know how many people we killed and how little effect it had on stopping terror

@HollyFrench17 The San Bernadino terror attack in Dec of 2015 saw a pair of Islamic terrorists kill 14 innocent Americans they knew very well.

It was horrific, a holiday meal turned into a bloodbath. People knew and said nothing. Remember?

@HollyFrench17 Trump said "I would get myself in so much trouble with them, we are going to handle it so tough. And you know what we're going to do? We're going to get it stopped." I thought he was all talk at the time. Then came Pulse.

@HollyFrench17 We know a lot more now after the acquittal of Mateen's wife. We know Mateen's dad was an FBI informant who was likely an accomplice.

But what I knew at the time was I was beyond grief. Any queer like me from central Florida knew Pulse well.

washingtontimes.com/news/2018/mar/…

@HollyFrench17 Clinton gave the usual speech. . .You've heard it from countless other politicians after countless terror attacks.

Then there's what Trump said:

@HollyFrench17 "Our nation stands together in solidarity with the members of Orlando’s LGBT community. They have been through something that nobody could ever experience. This is a very dark moment in America’s history."

@HollyFrench17 A radical Islamic terrorist targeted the nightclub, not only because he wanted to kill Americans, but in order to execute gay and lesbian citizens, because of their sexual orientation. It’s a strike at the heart and soul of who we are as a nation.

@HollyFrench17 It’s an assault on the ability of free people to live their lives, love who they want, and express their identity. It’s an attack on the right of every single American to live in peace and safety in their own country.

@HollyFrench17 We need to respond to this attack on America as one united people, with force, purpose, and determination. But the current politically correct response cripples our ability to talk and to think and act clearly.

@HollyFrench17 We’re not acting clearly, we’re not talking clearly, we’ve got problems.

We have a dysfunctional immigration system, which does not permit us to know who we let into our country, and it does not permit us to protect our citizens properly. We have an incompetent administration.

@HollyFrench17 With 50 people dead and perhaps more ultimately and dozens more wounded, we cannot afford to talk around issues anymore. We have to address these issues head-on.

Remember this, radical Islam is anti-woman, anti-gay and anti- American.

@HollyFrench17 (Let me say that again for the people in the back)

Remember this, radical Islam is anti-woman, anti-gay and anti-American.

@HollyFrench17 I refuse to allow America to become a place where gay people, Christian people, Jewish people are targets of persecution and intimation by radical Islamic preachers of hate and violence.

@HollyFrench17 When I’m president I pledge to protect and defend all Americans who live inside our borders. Wherever they come from, wherever they were born, I don’t care. All Americans living here and following our laws not other laws will be protected.

@HollyFrench17 America will be a tolerant and open society. America will also be a safe society. We will protect our borders at home. We will defeat ISIS overseas. We have no choice. We will ensure every parent can raise their children in peace and safety.

@HollyFrench17 Read it yourself:

time.com/4367120/orland…

@HollyFrench17 That's when I decided to pay attention to what Trump himself says without the filter of the media. I stopped watching Morning Joe. I started reading speeches for myself.

@HollyFrench17 That's when I went from just #WalkAwayFromDemocrats to supporting Trump. Old ways were not working, good people were dying here and overseas because of our failed policies.

If Trump could end ISIS, that was enough for me. He has done so much more.

@HollyFrench17 Do I agree with all his policies? No. But I will not criticize our president while deranged people make false accusations or the opposition party spies upon and then attempts a coup.

@HollyFrench17 First there was to be a recount. When that failed, there was an appeal to the electors to betray their office. When that failed there was an appeal to the Congress to not certify the electoral college.

@HollyFrench17 When that failed there was an attempt to convince the Chief Justice not to administer the oath of office. Seriously? Then there were the accusations that he has dementia. Remember that? Then when he fires the man most deserving of it I can ever recall...

@HollyFrench17 It's insane. All of it. If you believe it, you're insane too. The sane people left on the left - the ones who probably don't much like Trump...they are the ones who are now leaving. They #WalkAwayFromDemocrats because they have seen too much insanity and hate and division.

@HollyFrench17 But I'm the traitor who supports our President, not the people who talk about the 25th Amendment in reverent tones or introduce articles of impeachment without a shred of evidence.

@HollyFrench17 We see you clearly. We know why you are so angry, what the festering derangement is all about. It's nothing to do with Trump, or even Clinton, it has to do with you. We saw you embarrassed and humiliated. That is the crime for which you cannot forgive.

cnn.com/2016/11/09/pol…

@HollyFrench17 It's a downward spiral of anger and depression that will repeat itself in 2020.

I pity you, but I will not set myself on fire to keep you warm. Good night.

@threadreaderapp please unroll this thread.