Rep. Landon Brown, R-Cheyenne, said he was the recipient of hate mail after he appeared on CNN over the weekend and expressed his support for U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyoming, and said former President Donald Trump wasn’t fit for office.
Brown, a third-term Republican, is one of a few Republican legislators who have stood up for Cheney after her condemnation of President Trump following the January 6, 2021, riots at the U.S. Capitol and her barrage of criticism toward the former president ever since as a member of the committee investigating the attack.
Appearing on the network early Saturday morning, Brown said he agreed with Cheney that some state GOP leaders have “abandoned the Constitution.” He also sided with the congresswoman on her opposition to Trump taking office again.
“I stand with Liz Cheney that I will do everything in my power to make sure that’s not happening as well, because at the end of the day, what he did and the way that he handled himself on January 6th is clear to everybody that he is unfit for office,” Brown said.
Shortly thereafter, the emails, texts, and phone calls started rolling in, by the dozens, he said. Some from Wyoming and many from out of state.
“Wow! I stood for my convictions, stated my beliefs, and in return I’ve received the most vile and vicious hateful emails and calls I’ve ever received,” Brown tweeted later on Saturday.
Brown shared some of the emails and texts he received with Cowboy State Daily. One lengthy text from a Dennis Zirbser called Brown a “spineless and glutless [sic] piece of shit.”
In expressing his support for the January 6 riots, Zirbser incorrectly stated that protesters “stormed the White House” (they stormed the Capitol) and condemned Brown for not calling for an investigation of Rep. Maxine Waters, D-California.
“People protested on Jan 6th and some brave men and women with guts stormed the white house [sic] and persoanlly [sic] I am proud of them,” he wrote. “I wouldn’t have dom [sic] it that way myself but it is nice for once to see the right doing what the left has been doing for over 20 years now with no condemnation by you or others.”
Zirbser went on to call for Brown’s removal from office. “You do not care to have guts and defend thir [sic] rights to fair elections,” he wrote.
Another critic of the legislator wrote that Brown’s “disrespectful remarks regarding President Trump has been noticed”.
“I think perhaps you prefer to lose you next election and be flushed into the RINO toilet along with Liz Cheney,” Geoff Ross wrote. Ross’ signature at the bottom of the email identified him as the “Media Liaison, Combat Veterans for Congress PAC”.
Brown told Cowboy State Daily that the level of unfriendliness in the correspondence he’s received is starting to surface in other conversations he’s having as well, like in the state Capitol.
“The collegiality that used to be shared underneath the dome is no longer,” Brown said. “It is cold in the Capitol. It’s really cold. The being a decent human being to each other and not attacking or impugning individual legislators is gone.”
This isn’t the first time Brown has been the target of the more conservative branch of the Republican Party. Last November, a constituent lied that Brown had pushed her out of the way in the Capitol.
Security video released from the Attorney General’s office proved that Brown did not have any contact with the constituent outside of a handshake.
