International Alliance of Community Chaplains Chair Tracy Elder tells WJHL that on Saturday she was working on the ground in flood-ravaged Eastern Tennessee on Saturday when a group of MAGA militia pulled up and began threatening her and other relief volunteers thinking she was with FEMA.

“They were all armed, open carry not guns drawn, but they had surrounded them and there was a lady there that was yelling and threatening them,” Elder said. She told them she heard them out on their grievances about FEMA but explained that her organization was not associated with them.

“People just need to be heard, and then some of that does take a skill that doesn’t take a confrontation,” Elder said. “I said, ‘hey I hear you. You can say there’s no volunteers but I’m standing right in front of you honey and I’m here and we’re helping.'” There were however FEMA workers present but Elder didn’t tell them that. She said that once she talked them down, that FEMA was not actually confiscating supplies from locals, the militia left and then later came back with donations.

In related news, Willian Parsons, the North Carolina MAGA asshole who was arrested Sunday after a threat he posted online prompted FEMA workers on the ground in Rutherford County to shelter at a secure location, tells WGHP he “viewed it as if our people are sitting here on American soil, and they’re refusing to aid our people,” he said. “So we were going to go up there and forcefully remove that fence.” What “fence” he was talking about was not elaborated upon, but our guess is it was some kind of “camp” conspiracy shit. “I went up and saw that there was absolutely nothing there, so I stayed, and I volunteered all day,” Parsons said. He was only caught because cops had identified him and spotted the weapons in his vehicle, hitting him with the misdemeanor.