A Tennessee man, Larry Bushart, 61, from Lexington, has been jailed for over a month and faces a $2 million bond for posting a Donald Trump meme on Facebook. The meme, shared in a group discussing a local Charlie Kirk vigil, featured a Trump quote from January 2024 about a Perry, Iowa, school shooting, saying, “We have to get over it,” with Bushart noting its relevance. Hours later, Perry County sheriff’s deputies, from 45 minutes away, arrested him on September 22, charging him with “threatening mass violence at a school.”
Bushart, a retired police and corrections officer, remains in jail as his bond hearing has been delayed until December 4. His attorneys argue the bond is excessively high, while prosecutors resist lowering it. Perry County Sheriff Nick Weems claims the meme caused concern among locals, suggesting it referenced a potential shooting at Perry County’s high school. However, an investigation by The Intercept found no evidence of any public outcry or school communications about the post, with the school district confirming no related records exist.
“(A)ttorneys with the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression filed a series of open records requests with the school district asking for any communications to or from staff pertaining to the case – including terms like ‘shooting,’ ‘threat,’ and ‘meme.’
In response, the director of schools wrote that there were no records related to Bushart’s case.
‘The Perry County Sheriff’s Department handled this situation,’ he wrote.
‘You would think that if a school district or a school was the target of a serious threat, they would have an email or a text message or something to students, to parents, to the safety officer, to the community, saying, Here’s what has happened. Don’t worry. Everything is all right,’ said Adam Steinbaugh, an attorney with the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, who has been monitoring the case.
‘They have nothing.’ “
-The Intercept
Local residents have criticized the arrest, with some calling it an overreach and a violation of free speech, accusing the sheriff of acting without proper investigation. Many believe Bushart’s charges will be dropped and that he has grounds for a significant civil lawsuit against the sheriff and Perry County. The case has sparked outrage, with community members questioning the sheriff’s actions and expressing hope that Bushart pursues legal action for his time in jail.
