Part One: Why Trump Targeted Two Black Election Workers

of an official proceeding. The committee officials and investigators said that they decided to make criminal referrals against Trump after seeing sufficient evidence of all of this behavior. So yeah, basically the stuff that we already knew, the stuff that we basically all saw with our own eyes unfolding on and before January six, And now I am really curious

to find out what happens next. I have been a little bit skeptical that we will ever actually see Trump or any of his creonies face actual accountability for their actions. But notably, I have not seen a lot of the major Republican players on the right circling the wagons to protect Trump like I thought they might have done, so

I guess we'll see. During the closing comments, the committee played a montage of all the different people who were hurt or killed during January six and that includes Ruby Freeman and Shame Moss, and I am really holding space

for these women in the aftermath of the commission. Their story is a really good reminder why we should all care about what happens on the Internet, because not only does it hurt the people targeted, like Ruby and Shame, but when our online platforms amplify lies that traffic and racism and sexism, it has real consequences for all of us. It makes us all less safe and less secure in

the process. So I sat down with my good friend Miles Gray from the podcast The Daily Zeitgeist to discuss the story of Ruby Freeman and Shay Moss to private citizens who were targeted by Trump and his allies and how cruelly their own country betrayed them. And this is just part one of a two part conversation about what these women went through and how it hurts all of us. Look be to another episode of Internet Hate Machine. I am so thrilled to be joined a BYuT one of

my favorite humans, Miles Gray of The Daily Zy Guys. Miles, thank you for being here? Are you for really for real? Oh my god? Thank you? Bridget I mean honestly, you're one of The feeling is very mutual. Um before can I tell them off? Mike, I was in my feelings because when I was in d C, I was like, let's hang out, and you didn't see the message in time, but it did break my heart only because of my deep respect and admiration for you. So the feeling is

so mutual. As I said, next time you're in d C, I'm taking you and yours out to a big dinner. I mean it, okay, I mean I don't need a big dinner as you know. Whatever, Just show me something cool, you know, like is Marvin still open on Q Street? It closed? It's still longer there? Yeah, it's gone. It was. It's like a DC institution gone because of the pandemic. Oh no, I really wow. Anyway, this isn't a DC restaurant show. But anyway, shout out to r I P

long live Marvin's had so many good nights there. But I have to ask you, Miles, have you been following that any of the January six hearings me a daily news podcast? Me? Oh, I would say, I mean, to be honest, I follow enough to know like what happened during every Night of Couchella, as I refer to as the January six hearings, so like I'll keep up with the big developments from there, but I definitely have like there's so I know, there's so much information to go

deep on. That part of me is like my cynicism, where it's like, look, i'll be interested if there's actual consequences, So wake me up when I start seeing people getting perp walked. But to that, to that end, I have been keeping up, but I would say, like I'm a I don't even know how to gauge my engagement with the news, like casual follower, although I probably know a few things, but yeah, I've been It's so funny because I was going to say the same thing. I consider

myself a casual follower. But that makes it sound like you're talking about Grey's Anatomy or something, or like Housewives, Like, oh, I dip in and dip out. I missed the last season. It's like, I don't know if we should be talking about like exactly You're like, I know that it went from like I know, I remember when it became Sloan Gray Slow Memorial Hospital, and that was a wave of two um and then that one person who got hit

by the bicycle and then they were about to anyway. Um, all that to say, yeah, who knows in this age of so much information, what is casual and what is like obsessed? Well, on December nineteen is going to be the final public hearing of the January six committee, and the final report is actually gonna be released a few days later on December twenty one. So it's kind of

all coming to an end. And I'm kind of like you, I followed it, but I am not getting my hopes up for actual consequences or accountability for any of the major players that deserve consequences. So we will see, yeah, because we only have history to tell us that there

won't be consequences. So I'm like, unless we have a market shift, and how are like legal system works and who we enforce the like actual laws with um, I'm counting on Like it's like I feel like the little pieces of a red meat that have people feeling like, oh they're doing something or all the like ancillary tertiary sort of characters to this, like the like oathkeeper adjacent folks who they're like, oh and then you walked in there and smashed a wall. See you in two years.

It's like, where's Jenny Thomas at hello? Are we talking about her at all? God? I would love to see her get up her block. Could you imagine she'd be like, I need to speak with the manager like she was, She would actually say that I feel like and then they would be like, oh, well, why didn't you say that? Sooner? Take the cuffs off? Can I speak to the manager of jail please? Oh wait, it's my husband, Clarence. Do something, honey.

So there's been so much compelling testimony from these hearings, but in my book, I don't think any was more compelling than the testimony from Ruby Freeman and Shay Moss. You might remember their testimony from a couple of months ago. Basically when they gave their testimony, it kind of like broke my heart to hear this personal story in their own words of how Trump and Juliani and this whole ecosystem of assholes basically ruined their lives and jeopardized their safety.

And I think that their story is one that is really about racism and sexism, and like this general visceral distrust and disdain that a lot of folks have for black women like Ruby and Shay. So I really think that this their story is kind of like the culmination of so many things that we have already talked about on this podcast. You know, when racism and sexism run unchecked online and it creates the conditions for lies about black women to have a welcome home online where they

will always be amplified and legitimized. And in this case, it doesn't just impact these black women, it threatens democracy or all of us. So that's really what I'm excited to get into today. Please, I'm excited to talk about anything that helps me feel better about our democracy, I mean, or worse. But as long as we get to the bottom of it, I feel like there's there's comfort in

knowledge too. There's a little comfort in it. Um. So if folks don't know, Ruby Moss and her daughter Shae Freeman were both election workers in Fulton County, Georgia, a state that Trump legitimately lost in Barren Square and where Yeah, I'm gonna be saying that every twenty minutes like a goddamn egg timer on this episode. So okay used to it. So if you're listening, that is may or may not be a drinking game. Yeah, drink a sip of your

beverage every time I bring that up. You might also remember that Georgia is where Trump pressured the Secretary of State to find votes for him in an attempt to rewrite history. Mm hmm, because he lost that election. Farren Square, So shame eight had really been like a long time election worker in Georgia. This was something that she was like known for in her community. Listening to her talk about why she became an election worker, you know it. She describes it as something that she did out of

a way to like genuinely support her community. She talks about how there are a lot of older folks in your community, and working as a poll worker felt like a way to give back to the elders in her in her town. Um. You you can just tell when she's describing this that it's something that she feels felt

a lot of pride about. During Fulton County was meant to have a shortage of election workers because of COVID, and so Sha recruited her sixty two year old mother, Ruby, who was a retired nine one one operator, to also serve as an election worker. And Yeah, it just was clear that This was something that these women were really excited to be sort of doing what they saw as their civic duty to support their their community, that they

talk about it with such reverence and pride. In an attempt to cast doubt on the election, which Trump legitimately lost, that's number two. Trump and his henchman Rudy Giuliani repeatedly named Ruby and Shay, both black women, as election workers who were rigging the election in favor of Biden. Now I don't think I need to tell you this was just an outright baseless lie. But this lie basically destroyed their lives. And I want to get into a little bit of how it started and where it came from.

On December three, lawyer working for the Trump campaign obtained security video from election night from the State Farm Arena and Georgia. It showed election workers and pole counters, including Ruby and Shay, just doing their jobs like exactly what you I know, how dare they well? I mean, yeah, we all know what they were doing in there. They were they were making votes up for Joe Byron. If you, if you believe Rudy Giulietti, that is exactly what was

going on. This lawyer brought the video to a Georgia State Senate committee, saying that it showed someone who quote had the name Ruby across her shirt somewhere finding a suitcase full of ballots underneath the ta able. Again, I don't really think I need to tell you that this is all complete bullshit. The video just showed election workers who were told to pack up for the night, so they're putting the ballots away, not in suitcases. There's no

suitcases in this video. It's just like the normal ballot boxes. They put these ballot boxes away, and then later they're told, actually go ahead and we start to vote count, don't wait until the morning. And so that's what they did. It's just a hum drum normal video of people doing their fucking jobs. I just love to like all these conspiracy theories that come with the like come from the right.

They all have this like Looney Tunes depiction of how like reality works, like and it's in a leather suitcase with ballots shooting out this side. This thing was tacked to the gills, like really a suitcase, Like what does that even mean? It's so how someone who was writing a bad movie would script like like election rigging, like being passed a suitcase under a table, like even like a briefcase is such a like weird thing to say

that that was in use um for election rigging. Later, Juliani talks about how it was involved like USB drives and like, you know, staging a phony pipe pipe breaking in the in the vote count center. You know, it's like it's so over the top and cartoony. But I do think that that is what these people think actually happens in real life, That real life works like a

goddamn episode of dark Wing Duck. I mean, it would explain some of the logic that they used to try and like overturn elections or most people like what the funk was that? Just like I don't know, I think, maybe call a bunch of goons to the capitol and then it will work out. Let's just try it, you know,

you never know, you never know. So the video of these election workers, including Ruby and Shay, starts making its way online through this really gross cottage industry of like right wing extremists blogs and media sites, and once it's in that online pipeline, it's everywhere. It doesn't matter that this video was like immediately debunked by Georgia's Secretary of State,

like immediately, once it's out there, it's out there. And this is where we really get like a big vector of lies about the women, which is a website called the Gateway Pundit. Have you ever heard of this? Oh yeah, real, real place where you poison your brain with nonsense. Absolutely so. The Gateway Pundit is an extremist right wing media site.

Research from the University of Washington Center for and Informed Public found that the Gateway Pundit was the second most prolific purveyor of election misinformation on Twitter in the late months. So just a real place where if you want complete fictions to be amplified to millions of people, that's your site. M hmmmm, I mean yeah, it's it's they're soothing bedtime stories for panicked white people who are not ready for

the status quo to be upended. Sounds exactly the same day that that lawyer for Trump sends that video saying that he thinks that it includes election tampering. The Way Public publish as an article the first article that disseminates the video, and a story that was promoted under the

headline huge in all caps. Video footage from Georgia show suitcase is filled with ballots pulled up from under a table after supervisor told GOP poll workers to leave tabulation center right, and so that's the first time that this video kind of hits the online space in a big way. The Gateway Pundit then calls Ruby out by first and last name writing on the site. Her name is Ruby Freeman, and she made the mistake of advertising her purse on her desk the same night that she was involved in

voter fraud on a all caps massive scale. Her t search says Lady Ruby, and her purse says La Ruby, which is her company. This was not a very smart move. Her company is called La Ruby's Unique Treasures. It's on her LinkedIn page. Maybe the Georgia Police or Bill Bars d o J may want to pay Ruby Freeman a visit um. The article concludes with an image of her with a banner that says all caps read lettering crook gets caught. Oh boy, yeah, that's uh, that's you already

know that's bad news. I mean knowing to like this online trash, to like Fox News or news Max pipeline. It's like it always you can always write like link every Tucker or handy thing, and it's always going to start off with some weird non kernel of lie uh that's posted online exactly, and so that's I think that

this exactly what you just said. I feel like the way that this video moved through the online right wing blog a sphere digital ecosystem really gives us an idea of exactly what you're talking about, right, how this sort of digital ecosystem works. Like it started with Gateway Pundit, then it goes to O A N, then Trump starts amplifying it on his Twitter, right, and so like it starts in this like really kind of what should be like a fringe site, even though Gateway Pundit did get

White House credentials when Trump was an office. But then it ends up with Trump amplifying the video that he got from Gateway Pundit and then Box News talking about it, right, and so it really doesn't move through this like shitty pipeline of extremist right wing garbage. So just three days after Gateway Punditt publishes this, Ruby starts getting harassed and people are showing up outside of her door and she's

really scared. I'm gonna play a little clip of a nine one one call that she made grabbing ham and terrorist great herbans hairs, an harassing phone called and emails and they came out and made a police report. Um yesterday and nast night about time. Minutes after night, somebody was a bamon on the door. And now somebody's bammon on the door. Can't call any screaming he's there, bammin on the door, right, crying to a bamon on the door. No, they are an the wayman, Oh god. So I mean,

she sounds terrified. It's heartbreaking. And this is like a sixtysomething year old woman, you know, who's making this call because people are banging on the doors of her house in the middle of the night and she doesn't know what to do. It is terrifying mm hmm. And I think what's also really important to point out here is the ways that Trump and his cronies specifically used racism and misogyny to fuel this lie. Like, I don't think that this lie would have worked the same way had

Ruby and her daughter not been black women. And I think if we didn't have a digital media climate kind of ready and willing to validate and amplify the worst racist lies about black women who we already know are disproportionately harmed by things like disinformation and harassment and conspiracy series. I don't think it would have worked the same way, and I think that you saw that in a lot of the way that Trump and his allies talked about these women. I'm gonna play another clip for you from

Rudy Giuliani. I apologize for making you listen to his voice. Take earlier in the day of Ruby Freeman and Shae Freeman, Mars and one other gentleman quite obviously surreptitiously passing around USB ports as if they are vials of heroin or cocaine. I mean, it's our it's it's obvious to anyone who's a criminal investigator or prosecutor. They're engaged in surreptitious and illegal activity again that day and after a week ago, and they're still walking around Georgia. Why should have been

they should have been uh should been questioned already? There are places of work, their homes should have been searched for evidence of balance, for ellis, evidence of USB ports, for evidence of voter fraud. Oh so, so they the USB port, what you put the USB drive into Yes, isn't it interesting how earlier you were like, wow, pretty weird that their claims of voter fraud involved like briefcases.

That's pretty cartoony. And now he's saying that they're passing USB drives back and forth to each other like vials of heroin. And then he says that their house should be searched for USB ports, like like, which is it? Is it like a super high tech USB enabled voter theft or is it briefcases full of ballots? I'm just saying, like I'm I'm more getting angry as like a nerd who likes technology. The port is the opening in which you would insert some kind of USB cable or thumb drive.

That's like being like and they had outlets that they were passing around. It's like, well, is it the plug or what are you talking about the thing that goes into what you're I think what you mean is a USB drive. So, aside from getting hung up on that, the like you're saying, this is just so common with with these like right wing people, because we already get it, like we know you're anti black racists. That's that's that's completely clear. And all of the legislation and the like

the rhetoric that's being used. But to even like evoke like the drug war, to put these women in the context of the drug war, because that was absolutely he's referring to a hand to hand crack deal or some ship, you know what I mean. And he's basically saying, Okay, black people, you know they're shady because of drugs. Therefore, what the funk were they doing with those USB ports?

You see, it rights itself and it's this like really cheap way that allows this racism to just casually continue because it's like, all right, tick that box, tick that box, Yet black people yep, yep, that's enough for me. Exactly like the way that he so casually evokes the like the drug the drug war, I think it's meant to be like, y'all know how black people are. There's never there's why would you You're already basically accusing these women

of vote tampering. Why are you then also evoking drugs? These women are not like that. That's it just it just goes to show how when it comes to racism, exactly like you said, it's these seemingly disparate things gloamed together just to be like, just by virtue of this being a black person, something shady is going on, my virtue of their presence, like he could have said. And then you see in the video handing each other usb

ports like it was the wire or something. You know what I mean, that's basically what he's saying, you know, and that's just hasn't seen the wire. He's not. He's not, but I'm saying, yeah, of course not. But I'm saying that's the shorthand that it's evoking, which is essentially to say, look, we're so racist, we can't even imagine black people committing

this kind of crime of voter fraud. So let me dumb it down to something that are like our culture has rammed down your throats as to what black people are, which are drug dealers or gang members. So let me re contextualize this voter fraud in this very neat trope that you're already used to having, like no thought cliches that you just immediately say yes to. And that's how yeah, and it's and it's it's sad how quickly that momentum moves because people really they just need a reason to

act out, like act on their racist beliefs exactly. And so obviously these women were not passing a USB drive back and forth, but they were actually passing each other was a piece of ginger candy. So what Giuliani was saying, which is complete bs. Yeah. You might also remember that infamous phone call where Trump called Georgia's Secretary of State Brad Raethvensburger, asking him to find votes. In that call, he evoked Ruby Freeman by name. Here's what he said.

We had at least eighteen thousand that's so unpaid. We had him counted very eight thousand voters having to do with the roomy Freeman. That's she's a vote scammer, a professional vote scammer, and hustlers. So he calls her a

professional vote scammer, which and hustler. And I think even kind of like what Miles was saying, the language that he uses to talk about her a hustler, a professional scammer, like it really hearkens back to this, I guess, a really specific and well worn trope about black women that I think he's really, in a kind of a savvy way, trying to hearken back to, like, oh, you know how

black women are all scammers and hustlers exactly. So I also think kind of to that end, And this is like a little complicated to talk about, but I think that's definitely part of it. One of the reasons I think that this lie took off like it did is because of the visual of these two black women. Sites like the Gateway Pundit, who are where who that are really good at knowing what's going to resonate with their audience, what's gonna stoke something within their audience as going to

motivate them to click and share. It's probably not surprising to you that they really used a lot of images of these women, Like every story had a picture of them, like a close up of them looking sort of like they were up to no good, doing something nefarious. And I think that that those images, I think really added like a kind of a visual element to the story that that really allowed it to take hold with racists.

Um on election night. Uh, these women were wearing blonde hair extensions which contrast with their dark complexions, basically the exact same hairstyle that I am currently wearing. Ruby owns a a fashion store like am jewelry store, and so she has a kind of a flashy personal style. She's wearing a bedazzled shirt and has a bedazzled purse. I think that they posted these images so often to pretty

much say, look how black these women are. And I think Trump and Giuliani saw this video of two black women counting votes in Georgia, and they knew that they could say that these black women are the culprits and that those black women were liars, and those black women were the reason that Trump lost the election. And I think the same way that Trump makes a whole thing of like attacking black women, that's was his thing when he was in the White House, I think, by black

women exactly exactly. Um. I think that he knew his base would be poised and primed to believe whatever wild conjecture that he pulled out of his ass, because they have a visceral disdain and distrust for black women that he stokes. And I think, you know, when social media platforms are the cesspools of racist, sexist garbage, of course

it's going to amplify those lines of thinking. So I think that Trump knew that his base would be really ready to believe if they saw this visual of black women just presimply doing their jobs and you know, not doing anything wrong in Georgia, that would be enough proof to convince them that something shady was going down. In the absence of like actual proof proof that basically his supporters would be like, hey, black women were involved in

the vote counting process. That should be enough to tell you that the election was against me, which it wasn't, because he lost. Exactly what was that he lost the election? You said election? He did lose? He I mean to check, Yeah, that's here that he lost, Okay, but yeah, I mean, it's the same lazy racism. It's like, basically he's trying to scale up the central part birdwatcher call it's a black person, you know, because that has been weaponized against

black people for since time immemorial. The mere presence of blackness is enough for racist people to say something is afoot here. Just be just off the fucking physical presence

of black people, you know what I mean. And so to your point, it's it's because all the base probably all have a very similar like outlook on black American people, which is like whoo who h. So if that's already your baseline in thinking about a black person, it doesn't take much then to just be like and that's bad, right, folks, and yeah, yeah, yeah yeah, And there's no thought that needs to go into because like to your point, it's just like they're just sort of um like drafting off

of the cultural momentum of racism that already exists, like to the point where we don't really some people just don't even need facts. It's the fact that they are black women is quite literally enough exactly. And I think that there they knew that their base for them that would be enough. They didn't need any other kind of proof. Just the fact that black women were in the mix in Georgia enough said. And this led to really like

like an uptick in very scary online harassment. She says that she got so many threats wishing death upon her. One of them said should be in jail with her mother, and saying things like you should be glad it's not nineteen twenty, which is obviously like a pretty obvious threat to like lynch her or reference to lynching. So being a flapper, yeah, they're not talking about like being a

bootlegger or something. Yeah, that's a that's a inching reference, right, And so it really goes to show how you know, we're not talking about just mean messages on the internet. We're talking about very, very threats. But these women went through because of these lives. I want to play another clip of their testimony talking about how this affected their everyday life. Now. I won't even introduce my self by

my name anymore. I get nervous when I bump into someone I know in the grocery store who says my name. I'm heard about who's listening. I get nervous when I have to give my name for food orders. I'm always concerned of who's around me. I've lost my name, and I've lost my reputation. I've lost my sense of security m all because a group of people, starting with number forty five and his allah, Rudy Giuliani, decided to scapegoat me and my door to shape to push their own

lines about how the presidential election was stolen. It honestly boils my blood to hear her talk about how this reputation and name that had meant so much to her, Like she talked about how she used to wear her name bedazzled on her hat, on her shirts, on her persons because she was so proud of her name and now she doesn't even introduce herself by name anymore, and that is what Trump and Giuliani took from her. It's heartbreaking.

You know, these these women were pillars of their community and now they're you know, basically resigned to a life

of hiding for their own safety. Yeah, it's it's so hard to, like you say here that because there's so many levels of loss that are being experienced by this woman, Like, you know, just in the context of slavery, right, you've already lost your identity in your name through chattel slavery, through the Middle passage, Like you've completely been severed from your sense of belonging or identity just from being forcibly

brought to this land. And then to go through all the other things that black people have to have to go through since the end of slavery, and to have someone like this who still believes that this country is worth saying, you know what, this is a way that I feel like I can give back because this is giving me something, and I and I have this exchange

feels fair. To only have that lead to something like this where now you you're doubling back and saying I've lost my name I've lost my ability to even have pride in myself. That's like such a level of like, like, the dimensions of loss are so profound that it's not just like and I can't even go on Twitter anymore. It's no, I've actually become afraid to identify myself because someone's lies are fueling a bunch of violent thoughts and

deeds from other people. That's really funny. It's really hard to hear that because she doesn't deserve that. And I really feel bad when people are so invested in how good this country is and wanting to stick up for it and fight for it, and you're getting crumbs back constantly. And there's another part of that too that feels it's really difficult for me to watch and like kind of

reckon with as I see this all happen. Is the same thing with like that one Capital police officer, that one black officer who was fighting off this whole crowd, And I'm like, in a way, I'm like, for what, man, because what are they given? I mean, what how has how have things? How have those how have the needs of our community actually been heard or met? But somehow the resilience to come back and keep believing. It's like it's it like makes me feel bad that I'm cynical.

It makes me feel like, I don't know, is that the Is that the best place to put my energy or not. But that's just I think that's always the darkness that exists when you look at these kinds of situations where especially Black Americans are like, I actually believe in the good of this country, only to have your own blackness weaponized against you to the point that you

have you've you're in hiding. It's just this level of docks sing is it's like so inhumane and cruel, like they're they're they're literally in the amount of they didn't have to be there. They didn't have to they didn't have to work in the in the voting polls, they didn't have to help people. They were there to help people vote. They were there to help people vote, and they've now docks them to the point that they're afraid to use their own name. That is that that is America,

and that is disgusting. Just yeah, I just wish um it's funny. You know, like my grandmother she loved it as flashy the black woman. You go to church, you put your nice wig on, you know what I mean, the wild metallic jacket and stuff that's like part of culturally, that's part of how we have a sense of pride of what little we have we have left because we were completely excluded from the the fruits of slave labor,

you know. And then to even say, like there's something I can see like you like, you know, some people can easily identify with what you're talking about. Other people may have a harder time. But that was another part that really is hard to hear, is like I used to like to wear my things, Like the little bits of joy that she was able to extract from her

life were taken away from her. And I think that's it, and how easily and how quickly that happens should really be frightening for all people and not just people who are are black or women or people of color. It's the idea that like this is kind of the game that people are playing now. They're like, you know, will lie on you and we don't care what the toll is because we'll just sick a mob on you. Yeah, it's it's difficult to hear me to to listen to

what you're saying. She reminds me so much of my own mother and grandmother, who also like to wear their big hats and dress flashy and be bedazzled and have long nails, and that that's part of a cultural identity of what makes them who they are. It's it's a beautiful way that they express who they are to the world. And weaponizing your own identity against you having these things that make you feel like you, that make you feel like you're showing up in the world and telling the

world who you are. Turning those things against you is a different kind of cruelty that I that I don't know that everybody can really understand what that is like. No, because you look at people who are like, well, these other people have been canceled on the right or whatever, and like they're a shamed or whatever. It's like, no, man, Kyle Rittenhouse can walk into some bar in Texas and they'll cheer for him, and he'll be out here with his chest outing I'm Kyle House. You know what I mean.

That's he hasn't lost anything, He's only gained something because he's it's only rallied more violent people like people around him. Whereas this is just like to your point, weaponizing your own existence against you. That is a that battles lost basically immediately, at least psychologically for the person who is the subject of it. It's really heartbreaking. Yeah. Then like part of me was liked, stop fucking helping this place. They don't give a funk look at what they do,

you know what I mean? And but there, But I think it's really important to not become that. You can't get to that level of cynicism if you are going to continue. And that's a huge lesson I think most Black people carry within them, is you. I mean, you can't give up because we could have given up, We could have given up hundreds of years ago. But there has to be that sense that there is something on

the other side of it to keep you going. That it's when it comes out in the kind of cruel way to like use the optimism of these women to say, you know what, I think, I think this could be something good, and then it turned into something just the antithesis of that, just tragedy upon tragedy. Yeah, this is one of those situations that makes it, to your point, makes it really hard for me to be optimistic about

the state of things. Like they were just so cruelly discarded and used, and no amount of money can make up for what they went through, Like they should get all the money they deserve, all the money they should sue everybody. No amount of money will make up for what they have been through. Yeah, unless you have like a gigantic neuralizer from Men in Black and you can just aim it at the whole state of Georgia and be like, yo, look up in the sky real quickly.

All right, girl, put your bejeweled hat back on, you do it? Ruby? Like that really would be the only way, truly. So we've talked about what Ruby and Shay went through, and next week on part two, we'll be looking at the major players who are behind the harassment campaign against them. Spoiler alert, Kanye West and r Kelly are like tangentially involved, and will also be looking at the wider impact that the normalization of attacks on election workers like Luby and

Shay have for all of us. Internet Hate Machine is a production of cool Zone Media. For more podcasts from cool Zone Media, check out our website cool zone media dot com, or find us on the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.