Mar 5, 2022 3 min read

For the last several months, a group of supporters of former President Trump have been attending meetings of the Washington County Board of Commissioners, demanding that the board approve a costly audit of the 2020 presidential election, even though no convincing proof of voter fraud has surfaced in the county, which Trump carried by a commanding margin.

Last month, the commissioners agreed to meet with Douglas Frank, an Ohio math and science teacher and alleged expert on 2020 election fraud. Frank has won a following among those who deny President Biden’s victory, even though his claims have been dismissed by experts. The commissioners asked Frank to produce some data specific to Washington County before investigating his claims, which seems reasonable enough.

And how did Frank return this courtesy?

By taking to social media to call the commissioners “slimy bastards” and “unethical,” and proclaiming, “Dude, if I lived in such a county, I’d be all torches and pitchforks. It’s tar and feathers time.”

Perhaps commissioners should feel lucky that Frank only suggested tar and feathers for them. In a social media post last year, Frank proposed that Jocelyn Benson, a Peters Township native and Michigan’s secretary of state, should face a jury trial, adding, “One capable of dispensing capital punishment.”

Predictably, this has led to what an Observer-Reporter story last week described as “an influx of threats” being directed at commissioners and other county officials, with some hinting at firing squads and public gallows. Security was stepped up at the county buildings, and commissioners released a joint statement stressing the seriousness with which they take the threats and the safety of county employees.

Frank responded that, heavens no, he wasn’t advocating violence, but that “I like the temperature high because it keeps people motivated.”

Of course, when the temperature gets high, sometimes the heat can get beyond anybody’s control, and Frank should know that.

It’s time – well past time – for the people who insist that Trump was robbed of a second term to cool it and move on with their lives. Despite numerous counts, recounts, investigations and audits, not a scintilla of evidence has emerged that there was sufficient fraud to change the result of the 2020 contest.

On the same day that the Observer-Reporter reported about the threats to county officials on its front page, it also carried a story about how Washington County could be poised for vigorous economic growth in a post-pandemic economy. It’s up to residents to ask themselves how they want the county to be known: as a harmonious community with a healthy business environment? Or, as a place where threats, bullying and intimidation based on discredited conspiracy theories are the order of the day?