
Social media users who posted glib or celebratory remarks about the assassination attempt against former President Donald Trump sparked backlash online as a popular conservative social media channel began circulating the posts with identifying photographs and employer contacts.
Libs of TikTok has 3.2 million followers on X, formerly known as Twitter. It’s been a bastion of conservative views with posts widely circulated on X and migrating to other social media channels.
The channel is operated by Chaya Raichik who, according to a 2022 profile by The Washington Post, was working in real estate when she founded Libs of TikTok in November 2020. Her platform is frequently critical of the Biden Administration as well as initiatives and conspiracies regarding diversity, equity and inclusion and gender ideology.
In the wake of Saturday’s assassination attempt against former President Trump, Libs of TikTok launched an ongoing effort to post social media messages of others mocking and lamenting that Trump was grazed rather than killed by shooter Thomas Matthew Crooks while speaking on stage at a campaign rally Saturday in Butler County. Multiple updates show several persons identified by the social media channel were subject to internal investigations with their employers, dismissals and resignations.
Such was the case with Tony Bendele, a former volunteer firefighter from Sunbury, Pennsylvania and self-employed professional photographer who’s amassed an online following of his own for his talents behind the camera. Bendele resigned Monday from the Americus Hose Co. in Sunbury after a bomb threat was called into the station, causing the station to temporarily close amid a police investigation Monday morning.
City officials stressed Bendele’s opinion, posted on his personal Facebook account, didn’t reflect that of Sunbury or its fire department. They stopped short of making the direct connection between Bendele’s remarks and the bomb threat, saying the matter is under investigation.
Sometime following Saturday’s shooting, Bendele made a public post that read “Too bad it didn’t hit him square” accompanied by a popcorn emoji. The reaction was fierce and critical, but not universally in opposition. Some critics emphasized that a fellow firefighter, Corey Comperatore, of Butler County, was killed while shielding his family from gunfire. Two others — David Dutch and James Copenhaver — were critically wounded and according to state police, their conditions were upgraded Sunday to stable.
Threats of violence and death against Bendele followed his remark. He referenced those in additional posts to his Facebook page while also calling his own statement a mistake.
“I have been threatened. My family has been threatened. My friends have been threatened. I have never felt so unsafe in my life. This is so far past anything that should ever be condoned. It’s one thing to ruin my life, I accept that. But to put everyone else in danger around me, to shut down everyone’s daily life, this is not ok,” Bendele wrote in a public Facebook post announcing his resignation.
Lackawanna County (Pa.) Commissioners on Monday announced the indefinite suspension of Rick Notari, employed as a Community Relations Manager, who commented on X, “It’s a shame the guy missed,” in response to a post about the shooting.
Jess Branas, a council member in Upper Darby Township near Philadelphia, and district staffer for state Rep. Heather Boyd, a Democrat from Delaware County, publicly posted “A for effort” to her private Facebook account a little more than one hour after the shooting. The post remains online.
Branas has maintained that the post had nothing to do with Trump, that she was on “staycation” and had disconnected from the news for three days. The post, she said in a video response, was in reference to her self-described poor cooking skills rather than the assassination attempt.
Her explanation did little to mute those in her comments seeking her dismissal.
Boyd didn’t name Branas when she posted to X on Sunday evening about remarks made by a “former member” of her staff. Attempts to reach Boyd and Branas for further comment were unsuccessful.
“Violence has no place in politics. Earlier today a social media post made by a former member of my staff was brought to my attention. This matter has been dealt with swiftly,” Boyd wrote. “Please join me in praying for our former president, the loved ones of Corey Comperatore, for David Dutch & James Copenhaver — and for all those impacted.”
In a video posted after Boyd’s online statement, Branas continued her self-defense, saying the shooting wasn’t on her mind when she initially posted online. She did not address Boyd’s statement or her employment as a district staffer.
“I was not making a political statement whatsoever,” Branas said in the 4-minute video posted Sunday night. “When I found out this morning what happened yesterday, it’s horrifying. You (have) got to think about it. A former president was shot. You have two other people who were shot and critically injured. You have somebody who lost their life. That’s not something to be laughed at and I certainly would not laugh at that. So, my ‘A for effort comment,’ by the way, had nothing to do with that because I wasn’t watching the news. I was totally disconnected.”