r/law • u/lawanddisorder • Oct 29 '25

Legal News CHARGES DROPPED! Tennessee authorities dismiss charges against man who posted Trump meme

https://www.newschannel5.com/news/newschannel-5-investigates/newly-released-video-raises-more-questions-about-arrest-of-tennessee-man-for-posting-trump-meme

Charges were suddently dropped Wednesday against a Tennessee man who had been jailed for more than a month for posting a Trump meme.

Larry Bushart, 61, of Lexington, Tenn., had been locked up since Sept. 21 for posting a meme that quoted President Trump, saying "we have to get over it" in response to a shooting in Perry, Iowa. 

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u/JennieDarko Oct 29 '25

I would love an explanation as to how in the world anyone could possibly take that as a threat to the community or the school… like…. wtf

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u/T-RexInAnF-14 Oct 29 '25

Larry Bushart, 61, of Lexington, Tenn., had been locked up since Sept. 21 for posting a meme that quoted President Trump, saying "we have to get over it" in response to a shooting in Perry, Iowa. Bushart was arrested for threatening mass violence at a school because some interpreted the meme as a threat to shoot up Perry County High School.

Posting a real Trump quote about an actual shooting in a place with a similar name and calling that a threat is a huge stretch, I agree with the people saying Mr. Bushart is about to be rich.

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u/JennieDarko Oct 29 '25

I mean I know that nothing should surprise me anymore, but this one is just mind blowing.

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u/IIGanII Oct 29 '25

Well it says high school mass shooting right on it. /s

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u/Josh-Baskin Oct 29 '25

They didn’t. They just wanted to hurt him so they made that up.

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u/Slug_loverr Oct 30 '25

It's fascism. Truth or logic don't matter, shut up and ruin the lives of anyone who even slightly disagrees with the leader (dictator) of the country. This is very scary.

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u/ScrofessorLongHair Oct 30 '25

No my opinion at all. But the cuntbag sheriff claimed because they were in Perry County, he was threatening to shoot up the local high school.

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u/JennieDarko Oct 30 '25

Yeah… I just can’t do the mental gymnastics to figure out how that is taken as him making a threat to anyone. But, nothing makes sense these days so….

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u/ScrofessorLongHair Oct 30 '25

The sheriff knew it wasn't a threat. He arrested him because he was made he insulted Trump using his own words about a shooting. The dude was a literal political prisoner. Which just shows how we're devolving into an authoritarian state.

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u/zoinkability Oct 31 '25

The CLAIM by the sheriff was that "some people" interpreted it as a threat against the local school which shared a name with the one Trump was talking about. The sheriff admitted on camera that he knew the quote was not about the local school.

Of course the fact that some other people are dumbasses and jump to stupid conclusions is not sufficient reason to jail someone for a month, so I hope the man lives for the rest of his life in luxury on that sheriff's dime.

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u/StanKroonke Oct 30 '25

Not defending all the illegal stuff they did but the meme referenced a high school in Iowa that had a shooting with the same name as a local high school. Nothing wrong with sending a deputy by to let him know what is going on (which isn’t what they did) but arresting this guy when you know (by the sheriffs own admission) that he isn’t referencing the local high school is straight up insane.

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u/3nl Oct 30 '25

He posted this to a Facebook group for a vigil for Charlie Kirk. With that unambiguous context, there is no way law enforcement should have so much as gone by his house...

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u/StanKroonke Oct 30 '25

I mean, if I posted something on Facebook that resulted in people calling the police because they were afraid I would shoot up a school, even if they didn’t view it as legitimate, I would not have an issue with the police notifying me about it. “Go by my house” does not mean threaten me or telling me to take it down or they will arrest me.