Larry Bushart, a 61-year-old former police officer, posted the offending meme last month. In response to a Facebook post about an upcoming vigil for Kirk, Bushart shared an image of President Donald Trump with the quote, "We have to get over it," which Trump said in January 2024 after a shooting at Iowa's Perry High School. Text added to the image said, "This seems relevant today."
Bushart did not elaborate, but the context seems clear: Why should I care about this shooting, when the sitting president said I should "get over" this other shooting?
The image was one of several Bushart posted, and it was far from the most offensive. Still, it certainly feels crass; as people mourned a brutal public murder, Bushart snidely used the occasion to make a partisan political point. But it's certainly well within the bounds of average social media discourse, and you certainly wouldn't expect it to bring the attention of the local police.
According to the Perry County Sheriff's Office website, Bushart was arrested the following morning on a charge of Threats of Mass Violence on School Property and Activities—a class E felony punishable by between one and six years in prison and up to a $3,000 fine. Worse, Bushart's bail is set at an astonishing $2 million.
Under a Tennessee law that went into effect July 1, anyone posting bond must put up at least 10 percent of the total amount, and bail bondsmen must charge a "premium fee" of at least five percent of the total bond amount. Even just to get out of jail ahead of trial, state law says Bushart would have to pay a bondsman at least $210,000.
Bushart posted the Trump meme "to indicate or make the audience think it was referencing our Perry High School," Weems told The Tennesseean in a statement. "Investigators believe Bushart was fully aware of the fear his post would cause and intentionally sought to create hysteria within the community." Weems also told local radio station WOPC the meme "eluded [sic] to a hypothetical shooting at a place called Perry High School."
This justification is downright laughable. In its entirety, the post consists of a direct quote of a statement by the then-former president about a newsworthy event, with text providing context, plus a four-word phrase added. Bushart didn't even create the meme: The Tennesseean's Angele Latham noted it had been "posted numerous times across multiple social media platforms not connected to Bushart going back to 2024."
Bushart's arrest would be humorous if it weren't so serious. He now faces a potential years-long prison sentence for reposting a Facebook meme that doesn't come anywhere close to qualifying as an exception to the First Amendment. Even if the case gets thrown out, he has already spent two weeks in jail and is set to spend two more months until his first hearing.
Bc little towns are often controlled by lawless individuals drunk on power. Nobody notices when civil rights and liberties are being violated by local governments unless somebody points it out to a higher authority.
For some reason it seems the sheriff of this town felt emboldened enough to throw this guy in prison on trumped up charges. Almost like he knows there's nobody who's going to come in and enforce the federal protections he's ignoring.
I hope they are ready to pay the millions of dollars they're going to have to pay this man after the case gets laughed out of court. I'm sure there are lawyers queuing up and salivating at the idea of how much money they're going to get out of this tiny little town and their insurance policies for arresting this man.