When Democracy Gets Ugly

It would be easy to dismiss this as petty mischief. But what’s happening here isn’t just about signage — it’s about undermining democracy itself (Snyder 45).

The Texts No One Asked For (and How They Work)

Around the same time the vandalism began, Wake Forest residents started receiving anonymous political text messages. This is just the evolution of tactics that have long been used to silence and terrorize, as I outlined in The Old White Hood, The Camera Phone: How Authoritarianism Hides in Plain Sight.

They didn’t come from a regular phone number. They came from what’s called a non-fixed VOIP line — basically, an internet-based number that anyone can create and throw away in minutes (Keller and Scherer 2024). Think of it like a burner phone that lives online: no address, no accountability.

That means someone can blast out hundreds or thousands of texts at once, spreading falsehoods or fear, then vanish without a trace. It’s cheap, cowardly, and increasingly common in efforts to manipulate voters (Fisher 2023). Recipients described messages filled with false claims, personal smears, and fear-based slogans — references to “family values,” “drag queens,” and other culture-war flashpoints meant to inflame emotions and divide neighbors.

I’m not publishing those screenshots here because the content was hateful and disturbing. But their existence was verified by multiple recipients who shared them through a secure inbox. What matters isn’t the phrasing — it’s the strategy behind it: to erode trust, to stoke fear, and to pit residents against one another (Woolley and Howard 19).

These messages are part of a broader pattern of digital intimidation — the same kind of tactics that have appeared in local elections across the country.

These are not community conversations — they’re psychological operations.
They’re designed to divide, distract, and discourage.

One message hurled false and inflammatory accusations involving “drag queens” and “family values.” Another attacked sitting commissioners and endorsed unnamed “real conservative” candidates. Another message accused sitting commissioners of “tax hikes” and “ideological extremism,” while promoting hand-picked “family values” candidates.

Where once intimidation might have come from burning crosses or slashed tires, it now arrives as digital hate wrapped in emojis and moral panic.

This is not new — it’s a modern version of the same old playbook:

• Create fear.

• Target those who represent inclusion or progress.

• Pretend it’s “just politics.”

It’s not just politics. It’s a pattern — the same supremacist tactics of silencing, smearing, and dividing, now repackaged for the digital age.

And it’s happening right here, in Wake Forest.

We’ve Seen This Playbook Before

I’m not new to how this works. During my time supporting Special Operations units, I worked alongside teams whose mission included Psychological Operations (PSYOPS) — the military’s information and influence specialists. It wasn’t my trade, but I learned enough to spot it when I see it.

What’s happening here in Wake Forest isn’t new. It’s part of an old and dangerous playbook — one that is fueling the rise of authoritarian movements around the world.

We’ve watched this story unfold in Hungary, Russia, Turkey, and elsewhere:

• Step one: flood the information space with lies, distortions, and fear.

• Step two: turn neighbors into enemies through identity-based attacks.

• Step three: normalize intimidation and harassment until people stop speaking up.

• Step four: fill the silence with power.

It’s not an accident — it’s a psychological operation against democracy itself.

The same techniques once used to destabilize foreign populations are now being turned inward — against Americans, in American towns. We saw it at the national level under Trump and the MAGA movement: disinformation as strategy, fear as fuel, violence as validation. What begins as vandalism and rumor too often ends with militarized policing, “enemies lists,” and the slow decay of civic trust.

This is what scholars call fifth-generation warfare — conflict waged through influence, propaganda, and perception. It’s not fought with bullets anymore; it’s fought with fear, repetition, and fatigue.

And if we don’t name it and resist it early — before it hardens — we end up like those countries where elections still happen, but the outcome is already decided by the time the first vote is cast.

This is not normal. And we must not let it become our new normal.

When Fear Becomes a Campaign Strategy

These tactics aren’t random. They are designed to intimidate, to polarize, and to make good people think twice about stepping forward for public service.

• Vandalized signs send the message that your participation can be erased.

• Anonymous smear texts signal that your character can be publicly attacked for simply standing up.

• Targeting those advocating inclusion deepens the sense that some voices are unwelcome in the public square.

This isn’t democracy — it’s an attempt to control it through fear.

Wake Forest deserves better than this.

The Bigger Picture

Across America, we’ve watched how local politics — once grounded in neighborly debates over zoning, schools, and taxes — have become proxy wars for national outrage. But in small towns like ours, the cost is personal.

When local campaigns become arenas for hate, the damage lasts long after the votes are counted. Candidates burn out. Volunteers withdraw. Neighbors stop talking. Trust erodes.

As Fatmi himself put it:

“Signs don’t win elections. Votes do. We’re better than this.”

That line matters. Because this story isn’t just about Wake Forest — it’s a mirror for what’s happening across the country.

What We Can Do

1. Reject anonymous manipulation. If you receive a smear text, don’t forward it. Delete it.

2. Support transparency and fairness. Call out vandalism and intimidation when you see it.

3. Vote — and encourage others to. Silence only empowers those who thrive on chaos.

Wake Forest’s strength has always come from its sense of community — from the belief that we can disagree without destroying each other. Protecting that spirit starts now.

Democracy doesn’t defend itself. We do.

Author’s Note

This article was written to alert the people of Wake Forest — and surrounding communities — to coordinated acts of harassment, disinformation, and intimidation that have no place in local democracy. All text reports were verified by multiple recipients and reviewed confidentially. No personal identifiers are being disclosed.
This is not about party or politics — it’s about protecting the dignity of civic life and standing up for one another.

Works Cited

ADL (Anti-Defamation League). Hate, Harassment, and the Threat to Democracy 2024 Report. ADL, 2024.

Balogh, Éva S. Orbán’s Hungary: The Consolidation of Illiberal Rule. Central European University Press, 2023.

Fisher, Max. “Political Spam and Disinformation Go Local.” The New York Times, 15 Aug. 2023.

Freedom House. Freedom in the World 2024: Russia. Freedom House, 2024.

Guriev, Sergei, and Daniel Treisman. Spin Dictators: The Changing Face of Tyranny in the 21st Century. Princeton UP, 2022.

Hochschild, Arlie Russell. Strangers in Their Own Land: Anger and Mourning on the American Right. The New Press, 2018.

Keller, Michael, and Josh Scherer. “Disposable Numbers and Digital Deception: The Rise of VOIP Political Spam.” ProPublica, 22 Jan. 2024.

Levitsky, Steven, and Daniel Ziblatt. How Democracies Die. Crown, 2018.

Pearson, Elaine. “Fear as a Campaign Tool in Local Elections.” Human Rights Watch Commentary, April 2025.

Singer, P. W., and Emerson T. Brooking. LikeWar: The Weaponization of Social Media. Mariner, 2019.

Snyder, Timothy. On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century. Ten Speed Press, 2017.

Woolley, Samuel C., and Philip N. Howard. Computational Propaganda: Political Parties, Politicians, and Political Manipulation on Social Media. Oxford UP, 2018.