He stood on the corner before me as I crossed the street. His head bobbing and nodding, making eye contact, his lips already moving before I even made it to the sidewalk. A Fox 43 camera dangled at his side. I couldn’t hear him—a live version of Folsom Prison Blues by the Dream Syndicate filled my ears—but I already knew what he was saying. I raised a finger, the universal sign for ‘hang on a second.’ I dug my phone out of my pocket and paused my music. “What’s up?” I asked, as if I didn’t know.
“I’m hoping to talk with you about an incident this past weekend with Sheriff Muller.” Of course. Everyone’s talking about the incident with Sheriff Muller. The Fox News guy went on for thirty seconds about Facebook memes, No Kings protests and public perceptions. He didn’t need to bother. I’m following the story closely. I’ve jumped into the online fray.
James Muller, the Sheriff of Adams County, Pennsylvania, my county, attracted attention by posting a meme on Facebook the same day as the Gettysburg No Kings protest. He posted a photo of a white Dodge Ram pickup splattered with gallons of blood. The caption: The All New Dodge Ram Protestor Edition. I’ve included an image of the truck, but not the caption. I don’t want to make it too easy for people to repost the meme. This is humor to a seventy-nine-year-old law enforcement officer. To me, and many other citizens of my county, it’s reprehensible.
I turned down my opportunity to be interviewed. I work in a semi-public, non-partisan position. Yes, I publish my leftist opinions weekly, but I’m not on TV. People need to seek out what I write. TV comes directly to their home. Plus, Fox News, won’t they just edit me to sound like a ranting fluffy-haired snowflake?
Unsurprisingly, the outrage against Muller isn’t universal. It falls along partisan lines. Here’s a sampling of Facebook comments associated with a neutral Pennsylvania news website that ran the story:
Melissa S: Love it. He has my vote
Wyatte E: What happen to the first amendment!?!
Christinia M: Democrats can promote assignation attempts and that is Ok. But this meme is causing such problems. Only in America.
On a side note, many of the comments echoed this sentiment: Why does any county have a SEVENTY-NINE year old sheriff??
Good question.
I couldn’t resist the urge to dive into the fray, make my opinion known. In response to a comment by John W: This outrage from the same group of people who thought it was “funny” of Kathy Griffin to post a meme of her holding the decapitated head of Donald Trump. Give me a break. #doublestandards
I responded: No, Kathy Griffin is a comedian whose job it is to shock people. Sheriff Muller’s job is to protect the very people he’s threatening. Also, if you found it abhorrent when Griffin threatened Trump, why don’t you find this abhorrent as well. Seems like you’ve got some #doublestandards of your own.
I got a couple of likes, but not the dust-up I expected.
The story seems to be growing, becoming the national news item it deserves to be. My wife and I hesitated over attending the No Kings protest fearing political violence. Since the protest, I’ve talked with a dozen people who stayed away for that very reason. As we inch ever closer to an ideological civil war, it’s not lost on me that the violent rhetoric seems to come primarily from Trump supporters, with many of the threats coming directly from the Trump administration. John W needed to reach back eight years for his Kathy Griffin example. I don’t recall any Republican politicians being handcuffed and/or arrested by the Biden administration.
Sheriff Muller’s joke about murdering citizens expressing their first amendment rights is just another step along an increasingly trodden path of citing violence as a valid method to combat dissent. When half the commentors on news websites agree with this rhetoric, how far behind can the actual violence be? I’ve heard that in discussions on Gettysburg subreddits, people are advocating against visiting our town this summer. Seems like a pretty sane idea to me.
The Other Stuff 
I hadn’t heard anything about this incident, so I’m glad you posted this. It’s yet another abomination from RW cultists who seem to thrive on hate and violence. It’s their milk and honey. I try to stay plugged in to current events (within reason–I value what’s left of my sanity enough to avoid doom-scrolling) and I hope this story continues to gain traction. It’s unconscionable what these seditionists will do to promote their twisted worldview.
Stay safe, Jeff.
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Thanks Mike. The whole thing was pretty appalling. It’s caused quite a stir in gettysburg and our county commissioners (majority republican) spoke against the meme.
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Mike, since you turned off comments on your post, I’ll respond here. Yes, I agree the WP is one of the few places on the net not infected with MAGA. Every now and then, I’ll get a rightist comment, but even those are usually respectful, and almost always occur when I take a hardline stance for abolition of firearms. On a very rare occasion people will surf into my blog, make an asinine comment and then never come back. I almost never delete these comments but try to make a snide comeback. I leave it all up on the net like a badge of pride. Anyone advocating for the murder of thousands of innocent people deserves to have their comment not deleted. They should have to live with it for eternity.
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Thanks, Jeff. Yeah, the creep factor in the comment on my post this morning was just startling, and the comment just seemed to come from nowhere. I’ve always considered my blog my safe place, a place I can go to be myself and not have to worry about the world for a while. That comment felt like a personal attack in its unexpected and shocking suddenness.
I was a moderator at a PC gaming website for a few years and had to deal with the occasional troll (and some of them were absolutely vicious). Being as I was the only staffer on the site, I was always the target of their hate when I had to enforce the site’s very basic rules. There were times I was so stressed to log on each day that I’d become nauseous and shaky, trying to psyche myself up for what I’d see that day. I had to block comments and ban users a few times, and it was never, ever enjoyable. When I began my blog four years ago, I decided I would never allow anything like that on my personal blog. I’ve only written three posts where I disabled comments, and they’re all political posts. I just don’t have the will or the stomach to deal with trolls anymore. I have enough problems in my life already, you know?
Anyway, it triggered me, to be honest, and left me feeling dirty to read that guy’s comment, and dirtier still when I checked his blog. There’s a lot of really bad stuff on the ‘net, and I’m glad our WP writing community has thus far avoided much of that garbage.
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I’m speechless🔨
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I’m getting there. The international news isn’t so great either.
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I’m very sorry this is happening in your country, Jeff. Take care.
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Thank you, Magaret.
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This is so deeply disturbing Jeff
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It is. I keep looking for the bottom and I can’t find it. We sink lower and lower every day. The only people who have commented on this post are Australian. I’m looking for meaning in that. Like americans are thinking “well of course” or “stop it, you’re embarrassing us” or “damn Jeff, we’re just getting started.” Opening a web browser every morning has become fraught with anxiety. One day soon, you may see me mowing my grass in your neighborhood.
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We don’t realise how lucky we are here in Australia Jeff. So far at least
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Feel free to correct this, Jeff, but it seems that the simmering violence that underlies much history in the US is surfacing, unlocked and propelled by a self-obsessed fool hell bent on tearing those united states apart. I wonder how property prices are doing in Canada.
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Nothing to correct. I think you’ve hit it right on the head. It’s amazing how well we deluded ourselves for years that we had changed as a society. See my reply to Kate, I think AUS is looking pretty good these days.
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I had not heard about this – thanks for writing about it – it’s so disturbing. It does feel scary to be out protesting these days. Kathy Griffith’s career tanked after that picture – I don’t think many people found it funny – on any side.
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The news story seems to have stalled. On Tuesday, what I wrote will be on the Good Men Project website so hopefully it will get some legs. The discourse in our country is nut right now, and I can’t believe it’s going to improve with yesterday’s bombing. Very weird times.
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I had not heard about this, and all I can say is wow. I am not surprised, but I wish that I was.
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Right? It’s pretty hard to be shocked anymore, isn’t it?
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Yup, I agree. It is very hard to be shocked by anything these days.
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I’d hoped that image was the introduction to a short story. I’m sorry the facts are different. I watch what’s happening in the US with grief and horror. It’s especially jarring to see such aggressive violence in law enforcement.
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It’s all pretty shocking, and over the past week, I sense that many are feeling a normalization of the way things are. Today I read that Harvard is talking about ‘compromising’ with Trump, which, because Trump has 100% set the agenda, is really caving to Trump.
I’m doing my best to make this a national news story. This essay was published on the Good Men Project website today. Hopefully it will get some legs. The story got a lot of play in central Pennsylvania, but I’ve seen nothing in national news sources.
I think I should already know this, but are you in Canada?
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Yes, I’m Canadian. A Canadian-Kiwi combination, which I use to justify much of my weirdness, lol. I love much about political theory, and far less about political and economic execution. Watching what’s happening in the US is hard, the rising violence is scary, and the Trumpian determination to make an enemy of Canada feels stressful and surreal.
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