Appearing on CNN Friday, Beshear was clearly still shocked and angry about the incident – and who could blame him? He called it “a celebration of assassination” and said, “That was a day I never expected as governor.” He also noted that the protesters made their way to the porch of the governor’s mansion, “heckled and demanded that I come out.” He said that is where his young children usually play and it was extremely fortunate that they were not home.
A member of the right-wing Kentucky 3 Percenters who allegedly carried out the hideous action has since been fired. But Beshear blamed extremist politics, not any one individual or even one group.
This particular incident was an effort to terrorize Beshear out of his efforts to combat the coronavirus pandemic. But he drew parallels to white nationalism and other right-wing militancy. And he called on all of us to stand up to the bullies.
Just a couple of weeks before, we had elected state representatives and senators standing in front of them throwing out red meat. talking about people murdering babies and being dictators and things like that. What do you expect to happen in America when you do that in front of folks that you know are gonna to react? It’s time for responsibility. It’s time that we do not let our policy and our politics be driven by extremists that use fear and terror. It’s time to stand up and say no more.
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BESHEAR: I’m not going to be afraid. I am not going to let these folks bully me or bully the state of Kentucky. We're more united than we have ever been in how we are addressing this virus. We have saved tens of thousands of lives. I'm committed to doing what I can to address this healthcare inequality moving forward and I will not let these folks that want to ultimately try to force or pressure and really create fear and terror, which is what they're doing, to make us do the wrong things. They will not intimidate me or us.
