Scottsdale City Councilman Leads Anti-Mask 'I Can't Breathe!' Rally

Mocking the deaths of Americans on more than one level? Despicable doesn’t go far enough.
By Ed Scarce — June 25, 2020

How completely debased and ignorant does one have to be to pull sh*t like this in a time of pandemic and disgust with overt racism stemming from the death of George Floyd?

Scottsdale, Ariz., Councilman Guy Phillips (R) is facing calls to resign after using George Floyd's dying words during a June 24 anti-mask rally, many from other Republicans, including the state's Governor, Doug Ducey.

Source: Washington Post

Taking the stage Wednesday at an anti-mask rally in Scottsdale, Ariz., Councilman Guy Phillips (R) appeared in a black face mask. The crowd’s applause tapered into shouts. “Take the mask off!” they yelled. Phillips stood looking at them for a moment.

Then, in a monotone voice, he said into the microphone, “I can’t breathe.”

He said it again, louder: “I can’t breathe” — echoing the dying words of George Floyd that have become a rallying cry in nationwide protests against police violence.

Then Phillips ripped off the mask, rolled his eyes and feigned relief as the crowd cheered for him. “Insanity!” he said of the mask mandate.

Now, he’s facing calls to step down, as critics on both sides of the aisle have condemned his “callous” insult to Floyd’s memory and the nation’s reckoning over racial injustice. Sen. Martha McSally (R-Ariz.) called Phillips’s “I can’t breathe” comment “despicable” while Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey (R) said “despicable doesn’t go far enough” to describe Phillips’s behavior.

And perverting Benjamin Franklin's famous quote about taxation for his own specious, political ends.

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