Shelly Kates Headen, a North Carolina State House candidate, paid a firm $30,000 to scrub her social media history. That turned out to be money poorly spent.
The posts survived anyway.
Headen's greatest hits include a post from a visit to the Dachau concentration camp in Germany — which she misspelled — where she wrote: "This is where Trump supporters belong." In another post, she mused that "our only hope is an attack on US soil… preferably Alabama, Louisiana… where the stupid people are."
Concentration camps for political opponents. Terrorist attacks on red states. From a woman currently running for public office in Guilford County, North Carolina, against Republican incumbent John Blust.
Here is one of her old posts that was dug up
And here's another where she wishes death upon Trump supporters while visiting a Nazi death camp
When confronted, Headen offered the kind of defense that makes you wonder if she's ever heard herself talk. "I can't remember what I've posted," she said. "I've been very vocal against MAGA." That part, at least, checks out.
But the real masterpiece came in her follow-up. Rather than apologize for wishing death and internment on tens of millions of Americans, Headen elevated herself. "I've sacrificed myself just like Jesus sacrificed himself on the cross, and Martin Luther King and Abraham Lincoln," she declared.
Jesus Christ died forgiving the people who killed Him. Martin Luther King Jr. preached nonviolent resistance and love for one's enemies. Abraham Lincoln held a nation together through civil war while extending mercy to the defeated South. Shelly Kates Headen posted about wanting Trump voters in concentration camps and then got embarrassed when people found out.
Same thing, basically.
The Guilford County Democratic Party withdrew its support. The House Democratic Caucus distanced itself as well, with Communications Director Sam Lozier stating that "Shelly Headen's posts are unacceptable and do not reflect the values we expect of our candidates." Two police incidents involving Headen in Guilford County in 2024 added to the picture of a candidate whose judgment problems extend well beyond social media.
The instinct here is worth studying. Headen didn't just refuse to apologize — she recast herself as the victim of her own words. The woman who fantasized about terrorist attacks on Americans she considers stupid somehow arrived at the conclusion that she's the one being persecuted. The $30,000 social media scrub wasn't damage control. It was an admission she knew exactly what she'd posted and exactly how it would land.
Her own party couldn't run away fast enough. That's the part that matters. When the Democratic establishment in North Carolina looks at your posts about concentration camps for political opponents and says "we can't stand next to this," the comparison to Jesus and King isn't bold. It's clinical.
The martyr complex requires one essential ingredient: actual martyrdom. Getting dropped by your own party because you publicly wished death on half the country is not crucifixion. It's consequences.