The cyclist famously fired from her government job last year — after flipping “the bird” at President Trump’s motorcade — is tossing her hat into the ring of local politics.
Julie Briskman was released from her marketing and communications job at Akima LLC for “lewd” and “obscene” social media content after twice flipping off President Trump’s motorcade as it returned from Trump National Golf Club in Sterling, Virginia on Sunday, October 29. The photo of her impromptu protest quickly went viral.
“He was passing by and my blood just started to boil,” Briskman told The Huffington Post last year. “I’m thinking, DACA recipients are getting kicked out. He pulled ads for open enrollment in Obamacare. Only one-third of Puerto Rico has power. I’m thinking, he’s at the damn golf course again.”
Briskman told The Washington Post that getting fired was what first sparked her interest in running for office.
“We have a right to peacefully protest and criticize and express dissent toward our government,” she said in a phone interview Tuesday. “I’ve gotten some feedback that folks say you should respect the president. Even if you don’t like what they’re doing, you shouldn’t show this sort of disdain. And I simply disagree, and I think the Constitution grants me that privilege.”
Briskman has filed paperwork to run for Northern Virginia’s Loudoun County Board of Supervisors in 2019, a board currently controlled by the GOP by a 6 to 3 margin, the Post reported. She will challenge Republican Suzanne M. Volpe in the Algonkian District.
Briskman’s platform will reportedly include curtailing unchecked development, increasing government transparency, and school funding.
As to whether she would flip off the president’s motorcade again …
“Probably,” she told the Post.