Jess Piper (D) spoke at an event in Marshall, Missouri this afternoon which was sponsored by the Saline County Democratic Committee. There were over 100 individuals in attendance.

Audio:

A partial transcript:

Jess Piper (D): ….It takes three point five percent of Americans to stand up, to get in the streets for our government to say this isn’t working, we’re going to have to do something different, the people are noticing.

We have to keep the faith. We see things bad happening all around us, but I can tell you this. The sent the National Guard and ICE into Portland. How’s that working out? They got dancing frogs standing in front of them, right? You know you can’t buy a frog costume if you wanted to right now, right? You know how many frogs are gonna be at No Kings protests on [October] the 18th? [laughter] Right?…

Jess Piper (D): …You know why this happens, right? It happens because there are people who hear three times a week that they can’t vote for Democrats because they are Christian. Because Republicans don’t have to get out in areas like mine because the churches are doing it for ’em. They’re doing the campaigning behind the pulpit. And that’s not Christianity. And that’s not what I grew up with. And I don’t even recognize some of the people I went to church with. That stuff is called Christian Nationalism and it is not representative of Christians, it is not representative of their Christ, it is everything he would have stood against. They claim to be pro-life. Really? Are you feeding kids? Are you making sure they’re housed? You make sure they can go to the doctor when they need to? Can they eat at school? Do they have a school that is open five days a week? Do their parents have affordable housing? Do they have a livable wage? Those thing are pro-life. Those people are not pro-life. And I tell them every time to their face. That is Christian Nationalism. [applause]…

Jess Piper (D): …There are teachers that were fired in this state for not grieving a podcaster well enough. The were fired. There are people who were disciplined for nor grieving a podcaster. We’re living in scary times. We know it, and you know it, too…

Jess Piper (D):…I know what I’m seeing, and so do you. They want you to be quiet because it’s scary. I want you to be louder. Louder [applause] ICE is detaining our friends and our neighbors and our families. And they are doing it masked. And they are doing it without badges and without warrants. And they are taking people on the street and they are spraying them in the face with mace and pepper spray. And they see men in collars who represent the church and they hit them and the head with rubber bullets because they don’t care. Because they think they will not face any consequences. I know enough to know they will face consequences. We know what happened in Germany to those people who did what they did to their friends and their neighbors. And the same thing will happen here, I have every hope in the world. They will be held accountable for what they’re doing [applause]…