SNOWFLAKERY AT THE COUNTY FAIR?

Organizers at the Ashland County, Ohio, county fair kicked a Democrat booth out for seeking to 86 47.  The Democrats, predictably, squealed like castrated pigs.

The Ashland County Democratic Party was ejected from its booth at the Ashland County Fair yesterday, September 18th, 2025.

Three Republican members of the Ashland County fair board, backed by two Republican County sheriff deputies, ordered the Ashland County Democratic Party to leave the county fair and shut down their booth because they disapproved of Ashland Democrats criticizing the Republican administration. Deputies told the residents staffing the booth that they had to leave.

Both county parties have had booths at the county fair each year for over five decades. This is the first time county officials have ever ejected anyone from the fair for strictly political reasons.

The Sheriff told FOX News in Cleveland that he was informing the Secret Service.

This incident is not an isolated event but part of a dangerous pattern. We have seen instances of abuse of power before. Nixon kept an enemies list and attempted to use the IRS to target journalists. McCarthy dragged writers, actors, and reporters before hearings and wrecked careers with blacklists and loyalty oaths. Those were shameful chapters. However, even then, the machinery of the state was not routinely deployed to silence the chairs of opposing parties at local community events.

The use of law enforcement to suppress political speech at the local level represents a grave threat to our democracy and the foundational principle that government officials cannot use their power to punish dissent. As Senator Ed Markey warned us this week, what we are witnessing is “censorship in action.”

Our party remains committed to engaging with the voters of Ashland County and fighting for the democratic principles that are under attack.

The party booths at county fairs tend to be more restrained than some of the vendors.  The Wisconsin Democrats had this merch on offer at the Wisconsin State Fair in 2017.

The county fairs give visitors a read on that slow-simmering populist insurgency, as with these flags on offer at the 2022 Walworth County Fair.  With Donald Trump back in the White House, the material has become more restrained.

Under normal circumstances, it's supposed to be the oh-so-sophisticated urban leftist types, embracing their inner Sinclair Lewis, who cringe at the county fair displays.  It might be that the Militant Normals can shrug off a little moonbattery from the local defenders of Our Democracy^(TM).

Perhaps, though, those local defenders had a bad sense of timing and failed to read the national mood shift.

We hear those in our own party and those in opposition who feel those buttons were in poor taste. In retrospect, given the emotions running high in the wake of the Charlie Kirk assassination and subsequent scrutiny of criticism by the government, we should have thought about this more. We strongly oppose many of the policies of the Trump administration. We feel they are damaging the country. We express our ideas using our words and peaceful demonstrations. We do not and will never endorse political violence.

Seriously?  With the national party looking for ways to win back the votes of Normals, there was nobody in the Ashland County party organization who didn't suggest such messaging might not have been in good taste?  So it goes when you deconstruct bourgeois norms. Red State's Bob Hoge isn't having that non-apology disclaimer, concluding "evil still walks among us."