Caption: Nick Budnick, the “reporter” who was not capable of researching the facts about “white supremacists.”
I first became aware of the pervasive indoctrination surrounding “white supremacy” in May 2018 when Nick Budnick from the Portland (Oregon) Tribune casually said halfway through his interview of me“well, you are a white supremacist, aren’t you?” As I was laughing, I heard dead silence at his end of the phone call, as though his brain was trying to process why I was laughing. By the time I stopped laughing, he had gathered what wits he had and stuttered “how many white supremacists do you know?” Laughing again, I asked him what made him think I would be acquainted with the four “white supremacists” in Oregon. I then pointed out that the FBI recently issued a report which said there were only 20,000 “white supremacists,” mostly men, mostly uneducated, mostly nonviolent, who sat around and complained about their lot in life.^ I claimed there were only four in Oregon because, averaging the 20K by the population in fifty states, I assumed Oregon only had four. Ha!
THE IGNORANCE OF REPORTERS IS HARD TO GRASP
I reminded this fool that I was an educated woman with advanced degrees. Indeed, he wanted to interview me BECAUSE I was a member of the Oregon State Bar. He had nothing left to say about “white supremacy” so he dropped the subject. But, from reading recent articles he wrote, he is still chasing down “white supremacists.” By the way, the topic for which he was interviewing me had nothing to do with racism or “white supremacy.” The topic was the Oregon State Bar’s threats against attorneys who supported President Trump IN VIOLATION OF FEDERAL LAW.
Based upon the fact that Budnick was so ignorant of “white supremacists” and had been so thoroughly indoctrinated to believe that anyone who voices a complaint against Liberals or Liberal policies is a “white supremacist,” I assumed he was in his early 20s and had only been a reporter for a few years. I WAS WRONG. Later I learned that he was likely age 45 or so at the time he interviewed me and had been a “reporter” for about 25 years.
He is well-known for his investigative reporting on racial disparities in Oregon’s criminal justice system. It figures that he would “investigate” a non-existent problem.
SO, WHY DID HE CALL ME?
Dozens & dozens of attorneys complained about the two-page diatribe SEE BELOW in the Oregon State Bar’s February 2018 magazine wherein the Hard Left who owns the Bar issued implicit threats against attorneys who supported Trump 45. The complaining attorneys demanded refunds of their membership dues, which were close to $500 per year at that time. Budnick chose me and several other complaining attorneys to interview. [Several months later two lawsuits were filed against the Bar.]* After his asinine display of bias toward me, I assumed he would write an article about how racist Conservatives are. Much to my surprise, it was not too biased considering that he had labeled the complaining attorneys as “white supremacists” before he even talked to us. I wanted to link his article but couldn’t find it online.
Let us ponder Budnick’s bias for a minute. He had the email I had sent to the Bar. It said nothing about race or about whether or not I voted for Trump 45. I was afraid to reveal my support for President Trump because I had watched the Bar persecute other attorneys due to their support for or against politicians. The Bar controlled my law license. Had Budnick done his homework before calling me he would have learned that the two pages published in the Bar’s magazine did indeed violate Keller v The State Bar of California, a 1990 US Supreme Court ruling which prohibited mandatory bar associations from being involved with politics in anyway. That includes threatening & punishing Bar members over their support for or against elected officials.
THAT is what I and many other attorneys were objecting to. I have attached these two pages below. Before reading it, allow me to explain that the excuse they used for such a threat, the May 2017 murders on Portland’s MAX commuter train, is a big, fat lie. FACTS: Three Antifa thugs followed a mentally ill street person onto the train, harassed him, he stabbed all three and two died. The killer was a Bernie Sanders supporter according to his social media posts. Democrats and the media were quick to label him a “white supremacist” despite that fact that his mother is a Vietnamese refugee. Regardless, THAT had nothing to do with members of the Bar nor with the Trump 45 Administration.
Follow me on X Diane L. Gruber
^The Biden Regime removed that report from the FBI website because they were desperately trying to change the definition of “white supremacists” to include anyone who didn’t like Democrat’s miserable policies and/or supported MAGA policies.
*Gruber & Runnels v. Oregon State Bar (Case No. 3:18-cv-1591) filed on August 29, 2018. We lost at the appellant level and decided not to take it to the US Supreme Court. Crowe et al v. Oregon State Bar (Case No. 3:18-cv-2139) filed by Daniel Crowe, Lawrence Peterson, and the Oregon Civil Liberties Attorneys was filed on December 13, 2018 and is still pending.
The author, Diane L. Gruber, is a First Amendment advocate who writes for Substack. She calls her Substack newsletter America First Re-Ignited. Follow me on X @DianeLGruber.
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