A college student was arrested after authorities said she made an online threat to kill Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco, a Republican candidate for governor of California who blamed the alleged threat on “absolute lies and the dehumanizing political rhetoric” that Bianco said has prompted violence against those with conflicting ideology.
Cal State San Marcos police arrested Danielle Lopez on Sept. 25 on suspicion of making criminal threats, threatening a school/public officer/employee and threatening a public official, according to Lt. David Collins, a spokesman for the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department. Lopez posted bail the same day. Lopez had not been charged as of Tuesday.
Bianco, in an interview on Tuesday, Sept. 30, said the threat was made on Sept. 25, a day after the conservative sheriff posted a video on social media criticizing Democrats for what he said was their role in political violence. In the video, Bianco called on elected officials to condemn physical attacks and “cool the temperature” on verbal assaults.
Bianco, who was in Dallas for a meeting of the Major County Sheriffs of America on Sept. 24, said the shooting at the ICE facility in Dallas that morning, which authorities said targeted federal officers but killed two detainees, prompted him to film the video.
“For years, the left, including Governor Gavin Newsom and other elected Democrat leaders have vilified law enforcement, including ICE, demonized conservatives and fueled an atmosphere of hate toward other people based on political identity,” Bianco said in the video. “That dishonest, reckless rhetoric, like calling Republicans fascists and a threat to democracy, has clearly put lives at risk.”
Bianco said he believes the alleged death threat against him was made because of his ideology.
“It’s no different than anything else that’s happening right now,” Bianco said in the interview, “with the absolute lies and the dehumanizing political rhetoric that is being directed at certain individuals, particularly ones that are very vocal, who speak the truth against an agenda that is not (truthful). It’s a perfect example of absolute brainwashing of a college kid of things that are just factually dishonest.”
Bianco said universities and social media also contribute to the violence.
“It is absolutely no secret that for decades, institutions of higher learning teach absolutely no learning,” Bianco said. “It is political indoctrination. There are no critical thinking skills being taught. So, these outlandish character assassinations are believed as truth, and with the advent of social media, with the feel of anonymity, some people are just out of control.”
Bianco said he has routinely brushed off veiled threats against him, which he said are common. But actual threats on his life are rare, he said. Bianco said someone who made a threat in South Carolina also was arrested on an unspecified date.
“I can’t blow these off anymore,” Bianco said. “It’s sickening to me.”
Bianco said he has had a protection detail for a while after previously resisting calls from colleagues to add one.
The sheriff said those who call him a right-wing extremist — he briefly was a member of the Oath Keepers (pro-Constitution and not anti-government, Bianco says) — are “fabricating about who I am as a person.”
Bianco added: “It’s this entire demonizing and dehumanizing. When you just constantly say someone is racist or Hitler or a threat to democracy, all of these things are 100% meant to convince people that violence is the answer. … And this is why I am calling this out.”
