Bill Gates has PTSD and his fellow Republicans ... mock him?

Over the weekend, the Washington Post published a moving and intensely personal account of the cost of being a Maricopa County supervisor in the three years since Donald Trump lost Arizona.

Gates is one of the few remaining mainstream Republicans left in office in Arizona.

One of the depressingly few who has been willing to stand up to the intense pressure employed by Trump and his mob — people who branded this lifelong Republican a traitor and called for his arrest and threatened his life and published where he lived and called for his daughters to be raped and sent his family into hiding more than once.

All this, because he refused to cave to their demand that he embrace the Big Lie that Trump was robbed.

The reaction from some of Gates’ fellow Republicans to his story has been … well, it’s been astonishing. A real eye opener about the apparently unlimited capacity of some human beings to behave like complete and total jackasses.

Bill Gates is getting help for PTSD

Gates recounted his story to the Post’s Yvonne Wingett Sanchez — the fear and the anger, the feeling of betrayal that triggered headaches and insomnia and turned him into someone his own wife didn’t recognize.

“This has been a family journey,” Gates said, his voice cracking. “We’re all working through this together. But we had to understand that we couldn’t do this on our own. We had to reach out for help.”

Gates has been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder and has been getting therapy for the last year.

So you can imagine the reaction pouring forth from his fellow Republicans, some of them once friends and allies, as they read of his struggles.

Independent review finds: Election Day problems not tied to fraud

As they get a glimpse into the painful personal toll of a calculated three-year campaign to undermine democracy, one built on an evidence-free fantasy and outright lies that a stunningly high number of Americans have bought hook, line and sinker.

“Bill Gates, the corrupt chairman of the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors, is claiming to have PTSD from the criticism he’s received from his constituents over the last fews years,” Kari Lake’s “war room” account tweeted. “Embrassing. He can’t run an election, but he can run to the media for sympathy.”

Arizona elected leaders react with disdain

Rep. Alexander Kolodin, R-Scottsdale, also took a minute to offer a kind word of support.

“I went through all these (except PTSD) for fighting for Election Integrity,” he tweeted. “Where’s my glowing profile @yvonnewingett?”

Kolodin is one of the lawyers who filed a federal lawsuit on Trump’s behalf, claiming “massive widespread fraud” in the 2020 election. It was tossed out by U.S. District Court Judge Diane Humetewa, who called it long on “gossip and innuendo” but short on actual evidence.

Kolodin’s sneering disdain for Gates’ struggles was retweeted by Arizona Majority, the Twitter account of House Speaker Ben Toma, Majority Leader Leo Biasiucci and their fellow House Republicans.

Rep. Justin Heap, R-Mesa, meanwhile, simply replied “LOL” when a fellow MAGA supporter posted a GIF mocking Gates.

Others suggest another conspiracy is afoot

Turning Point Action’s Tyler Bowyer, who is Arizona’s Republican national committeeman, was equally touched by Gates’ story.

“Where was the media when Maricopa County attorney Allister Adel was driven to her death?” he tweeted. “They pulled down stories and tweets they wrote about her. We have the receipts. Now Bill Gates is a victim? Sure, bud.”

Adel died in April 2022, six weeks after resigning amid questions about whether her alcohol abuse had affected her ability to do her job.

Investigations and calls for her resignation were stepped up after 180 misdemeanor cases had to be dismissed after prosecutors forgot to file charges before the statute of limitations ran out.

Having learned nothing from Gates’ story, former Rep. Shawnna Bolick used Bowyer’s response to suggest yet another conspiracy is afoot, this one surrounding the late Adel.

“I have tried for nearly the past year to receive public records from the MCAO pertaining to various members on staff filing Bar complaints against former Maricopa County Attorney Adel,” she tweeted. “It is amazing what this office is hiding from the public.”

Is sneering how we make America great?

Caroline Wren, the political mastermind behind Lake’s 2022 loss for governor, was clearly sympathetic, replying to a journalist’s response that every American should read the “sobering story” told by Gates.

“lmao, sobering story?” Wren tweeted. “What a joke. He had a meltdown because someone wore a MAGA hat. He should resign and get in-patient care for his mental disorder.”

Then there is Sen. Wendy Rogers, R-?, — as always, the soul of Christian compassion.

“Bill Gates can always call 1-800-wahh,” she tweeted.This, then, is how we make America great? Again?

I begin to think the Republican Party really is doomed.

Reach Roberts at laurie.roberts@arizonarepublic.com. Follow her on Twitter at @LaurieRoberts.

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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Arizona Republicans mock GOP county supervisor with PTSD