On Monday LehighValleyLive.com (the on-line version of the Express-Times) reported (based upon a video on the candidate’s Facebook page) that Steve Lynch, the Republican candidate for Northampton County executive, told a rally
“I’m going in with 20 strong men. I’m going to speak in front of the school board and I’m going to give them an option: They can leave or they can be removed. And then after that, we’re going to replace them with nine parents and we’re going to vote down the mask mandates that evening. … This is how you get stuff done.”((A more detailed account of the comments in context and responses is carried in the Pennsylvania Capital-Star.))
While it is undoubtedly worse if he meant this threat (the only word that fits) literally, even if it was just “talk” it is irresponsible. Words matter.
The same article quotes Lynch’s opponent, Democratic incumbent Lamont McClure, in a less-shocking but still hyperbolic response, calling Lynch a “domestic terrorist” because he was present in Washington, D.C., on January 6, 2021, attending President Trump’s rally, but with no indication that he was at all involved in the storming of the Capitol.((While merely attending the rally does not make one a terrorist, I believe that all those who entered the Capitol building itself should be prosecuted even to the point of felony murder because a police officer was killed during the riot.))
Everybody, stop shouting and talk like grown-ups.
Jay Bohn
September 2, 2021