A pro-Trump couple from the Portland area who were filmed as they harassed a reporter during a MAGA March in Washington, D.C., are complaining that they live in fear after their names and faces were exposed on social media. They also whined about being fired from their jobs and are now virtually unemployable.
According to The Washington Post, MAGA fanatics Edward Jeremy Dawson and his wife Michelle now say they live in fear, with weapons handy in their home after being exposed for their right-wing extremist activities.
Footage posted online shows Edward Dawson crowding reporter Laura Jedeed. The video quickly went viral. According to The Washington Post, “Two days later, Dawson lost his job as an ironworker, his employer citing his actions in D.C. His wife, Michelle, uploaded a tearful self-shot video to Twitter announcing his firing, and later that month she was asked to hand in her vest and badge at a Walmart in Battle Ground, Wash., where she worked as an online-order fulfiller. She thinks she was fired over her politics but acknowledges that she had missed a substantial amount of work because of back problems,” adding, “Anonymous abusive callers deluged the Dawsons’ cellphones, with some urging the couple to kill themselves, the Dawsons said.”
The Post notes that doxing has become commonplace with the rise of social media as a form of retribution.
“The doxing of Dawson highlights the effect the tactic can have — unemployment and personal upheaval followed by a new job that pays much less than his old one — but also the limits of the technique: Dawson is unrepentant for his role in galvanizing a mob to harass Jedeed and continues to espouse far-right views,” the report states.
Noting the couples’ background, with Dawson defending white nationalism and praising Donald Trump, the report goes on to describe the change in their lives since the D.C. altercation.
“Doxing works, Dawson said. He guesses that 60 percent of his friends in the movement have been doxed and that some have had to move and change jobs,” WaPo reports. “The Dawsons installed a security system at their home, moved their firearms to spots with easier access, deactivated their social media accounts and stopped answering their phones. When Dawson’s wife left the house to attend rallies, she wore a bulletproof vest.
“I was terrified for my life,’ she said.”
Journalist Jedeed added, “From a practical perspective, I feel like being unemployable is going to push him in a more extreme direction. On the other hand, you shouldn’t be able to act like that and then have nothing happen to you.”
Watch the video below.
You can read the entire report here.
