Protesters Hang Beshear In Effigy Outside Governor’s Mansion

Gov. Beshear (Photo by John Sommers II/Getty Images)
Start your day with TPM.
Sign up for the Morning Memo newsletter

During a rally trumpeting Second Amendment rights outside the Governor’s Mansion at the state capitol in Frankfort, Kentucky, protesters hanged Gov. Andy Beshear (D) in effigy, earning bipartisan condemnation.

The figure had a sign slung around its neck reading: “Sic Semper Tyrannis,” or “thus always to tyrants.”

Per CNN, a man cut the effigy down from the tree it was tied to, saying that it had “no place” at the rally.

“The act that was displayed on Capitol grounds today, near where the Governor and his young children live, was wrong and offensive,” Beshear’s communication director Crystal Staley told TPM in a statement. “This type of behavior must be condemned. As Kentuckians we should be able to voice our opinions without turning to hate and threats of violence. Put simply – we are and should be better than this.”

The move engendered bipartisan blowback.

Kentucky House Speaker David Osborne (R) expressed his “outrage.”

“I am outraged that a group hung an effigy of Governor Beshear at the Capitol and the House Majority Caucus condemns this act of hatred,” he said in a statement. Pointing to the significance of Memorial Day weekend, he added that “Today’s actions are an insult to their sacrifice and the kind of incendiary action that can only cause harm.”

Senator Mitch McConnell (R-KY) chimed in Sunday night.

The Kentucky Senate Minority Leader, a Democrat, expressed his lack of surprise.

This post has been updated with a statement from the Governor’s office.

Latest News

Notable Replies

  1. Deplorable.

  2. Patridiots.

  3. Once again, it’s come to this??

  4. Avatar for vonq vonq says:

    Shouldn’t MoscowMitch move out of state then?

  5. re: ‘Cecil’

    He’s trying to get re-elected.

Continue the discussion at forums.talkingpointsmemo.com

182 more replies

Participants

Avatar for valgalky23 Avatar for cantabridgian Avatar for littlegirlblue Avatar for meri Avatar for rollinnolan Avatar for jimtoday Avatar for chelsea530 Avatar for murgatroid Avatar for danforth Avatar for gr Avatar for alyoshakaramazov1 Avatar for leftcoaster Avatar for darrtown Avatar for thunderclapnewman Avatar for daulphin Avatar for Anarchy_Bunker Avatar for maximus Avatar for skeptical Avatar for kenga Avatar for redpill Avatar for txlawyer Avatar for rascal_crone Avatar for dicktater Avatar for LeeHarveyGriswold

Continue Discussion
Masthead Masthead
Founder & Editor-in-Chief:
Executive Editor:
Managing Editor:
Deputy Editor:
Editor at Large:
General Counsel:
Publisher:
Head of Product:
Director of Technology:
Associate Publisher:
Front End Developer:
Senior Designer: