By Paul Bean
Vermont’s political landscape has been rocked by two high-profile incidents over the weekend.
From a chaotic pro-Trump birthday gathering at the Statehouse that ended in a ‘cake kerfluffle,’ to a heated exchange over protest rhetoric involving state party leaders, the events have highlighted Vermont’s divided political landscape.
As tens of thousands of Vermonters gathered across the state for anti-Trump ‘No Kings’ rallies on Saturday (6/14), a pro-Trump Flag Day celebration outside the Vermont Statehouse turned messy when a birthday cake explicitly honoring the U.S. flag, the U.S. Army, and President Donald Trump was destroyed by an anti-Trump protester. The event, attended by about 30 supporters and organized by Gregory Thayer, began peacefully with speeches and a decorated birthday cake.
“[We] had a problem towards the end with some guy attacking our cake that I purchased, smashing his frozen water bottle into it. I almost stopped him, but it landed on the center of the cake. Beautiful cake too,” Thayer told VDC.
“As he was smashing the cake I grabbed him to stop, he swung punches at me, then others grabbed him…Others were very nasty, getting in our faces yelling nasty words about Trump, the flag and telling police officers there that they were murderers…They even ripped Martha [Hafner of Randolph]’s children Bible storytelling pieces up in her face… So sad. We need God in our every day lives.”
The altercation began when a protester, identified in media reports as Matthew Baker, came up to the table as Thayer was speaking and smashed his water bottle into the cake. Attendees were stunned and the event broke out into chaos.
The incident has been widely circulated on social media, with some viewing it as a microcosm of the state’s polarized politics, while others dismissed it as a bizarre situation.
Simultaneously, a separate controversy erupted when Vermont Democratic Party Executive Director May Hanlon issued a statement on June 12, condemning alleged remarks by VTGOP Chair Paul Dame and RNC Committeeman Joshua Bechhoefer about protests in California. The protests and riots, sparked by federal immigration law enforcement, have drawn national attention, and some of Vermont’s political leaders have weighed in.
In response to VTGOP Chair Paul Dame and VT RNC Committeeman Joshua Bechhoefer’s comments about the protests in California, Vermont Democratic Party Executive Director May Hanlon released an apparently inaccurate and provocative statement about VT GOP Chair Paul Dame.
Hanlon was recently appointed to executive director of the Vermont Democrat Party following Jim Dandeneau’s exit following a rough election cycle for VT Dems in 2024, losing a total of 24 seats in the Vermont Legislature. This includes 18 seats in the Vermont House of Representatives and 6 seats in the Vermont State Senate.
“If you need any more proof that the modern Vermont Republican Party is simply a mouthpiece for the far-right extremist movement, look no further,” wrote Hanlon.
“This week, VTGOP Chair Paul Dame compared the demonstrations in California against the Trump administration’s unjust targeting of immigrants to 9/11,” Hanlon’s statement continues. “Chair Dame’s comments are outrageous and deeply irresponsible. It trivializes the lives lost on that day, deliberately stokes fear to dehumanize immigrants, and shatters any illusion that the VTGOP holds a balanced, moderate perspective on civil rights,” she wrote.
After some research VDC has been unable to find any comments from Dame comparing the LA riots to 9/11. He has released only two public statements — one on VTGOP Substack and the other on NBC5, and 9/11 is not mentioned once.
Her press release continues, “Worse still, Vermont RNC Committeeman Joshua Bechhoefer has called for using live rounds to disperse protesters. Advocating for shooting at civilians is shocking. It is fundamentally un-American. Bechhoefer’s rhetoric is extremely dangerous, and even further highlights that the VTGOP has no sense of right and wrong. They support violent ideology that shows their ingrained prejudices against people who are not like them.“
NBC5 reported Thursday (6/12) that Bechhoefer confirmed the posts are real, but he says they lack context.
Some of the posts made this week call the protests “anti-American forces gathering like murders of crows in American urban centers.”
Another said, “Yes, I support dispersing these CCP agents with live rounds.”
Following the incident Bechhoefer shared this statement with VDC:
“No statement was made calling for peaceably assembling protesters to be dispersed using live ammunition. This was a selectively clipped screenshot taken from my private account out of context and sent to NBC5 who has since for various reasons taken down the video, in my opinion in part due to shoddy journalism.”
He continues, “This was in response to the use of firebombs which the VT Dems claim in their statement are just protesters. Part of the thread was my observation mayors like Richard Daley of Chicago (a Democrat) in the past were much harder on rioting. My view is considerably more moderate in that police need to be able to deter criminals with firebombs violently attacking them, which VTDems seem to be glossing over. I do not advocate and have never advocated the dispersing via ammunition of anyone engaged in nonviolent crime while protesting, even looting and arson, and certainly not peaceable assembly.”
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Categories: politics
Many people are saying it was the most beautiful cake they’d ever seen.
I loved it even with the damage❤️
Someone should have kicked that little wuss soy boy’s ass and sent him back home to his momma’s basement.
Why wasn’t that little twerp arrested for assault!
I agree
The devil and his minions always seek to deface and destroy anything of beauty. This is in his playbook of stealing, killing, and destroying.
When satan can’t actually destroy, he seeks to distort all that is beautiful and good. Just take a look at the meaningless, ugly artwork displayed around Stowe. The centerpiece of this “art” in the middle of Stowe village looks like a giant silly twisted metal Twizzler. But this valueless, meaningless, silly, distorted art is simply a reflection of a culture which has relegated the Creator of all beauty to just one in a pantheon of idols. And where God is discarded, so is value, purpose, and beauty.
The United States, our flag, and the beautiful culinary artwork cake created to celebrate the miraculous establishment and continued existence of our constitutional republic, represent another example of the good and beauty the devil and his minions seek to deface, devalue, and destroy.
The devil will not have the last word here.
Well stated, Martin Green! This destruction is targeted towards God’s imagers, as well, both the born and pre-born. Psalm 239:14 (ESV) “I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well.” Praying for the lost to come to know their value and purpose through Christ Jesus, and waiting with lament and patience for God’s righteous justice.
and like always nothing will happen to that guy.
No legal repercussions for sure, but someone with soy boy Matthew’s attitude will surely be the subject of his own karma at some point in the future. Respect is due to all who witnessed that breach of the peace and the destruction of someone’s private property and exercised restraint in not punching his lights out, especially if he was throwing punches. I’m not sure I wouldn’t have at least made him wear the cake that he defaced a bit more prominently than it looks like he already is. Thanks for posting the photo of this filthy commie maggot complete with birkenstocks.
Which really is the problem here. The Police were there and saw it and should have arrested him
Rich,
Those ain’t Birkenstocks.
And speaking of repercussions, when will Thayer get his from his behavior driving around Rutland like a maniac. If the car is speeding, swerving, showing no concern for others on the road and has a Notre Dame sticker on the back you can guarantee it’s ol Greg.
Senator Fetterman stated that his party was loosing the high ground. Demoncrats loosing the high ground? That assumes that they actually had the high ground in the first place. Any one who fights against law and order doesn’t have the high ground.
So True! I don’t think Fetterman will be a Democrat much longer!
Grow up and act like an adult. Your parents must be very proud of you, Mathew.
They raised him that way obviously!
I see Donald Trump as a mythic, transcendent figure…not an actual King, but someone who inspires poets like the chieftains of old used to do. Ahem, Democrats, didn’t you mythologize one of your own Presidents as “Arthur of Camelot”? I hope that The Donald (nomen est omen: that’s a Scottish name meaning “World Ruler”) will continue to enthrall his fans for another eight years.
THE HARVEST KING
By Ellin Anderson
The autumn harvest, wounded in the ear,
Heralds the end of pain for hearts so true,
Healed under skies of of pure and crystal blue,
Never to cry, for now the air is clear.
Let the divine ripe mercy fill the sheaves,
Meant to be caught and cherished where they fall:
Gilded where the embroidered pheasants call,
Not raked away and burned like autumn leaves.
The king returned from battles far away
Weary but wiser, with his hair of gold
Whitened like wheat at threshing, never old;
As in his youth, the dragons he would slay
Menace the steeple and the castle wall
In vain — the people’s vassal conquers all.
People should know this fact by now – people, such as Baker, have the social aptitude of a fruit fly. People should grasp the meaning of “arrested development” and know what it looks like – there are plenty of examples on social media. Low vibrational beings that are lost and given over to reprobate minds. Sad, but True to the Word.
Societal collapse is messy, it is loud, it is maddening, it is disheartening, and it is confusing. All by design and all on purpose. While the overlords have the red team v. blue team fighting, bickering, vandalizing, looting, burning, running over bodies, screaming and screeching like demon possessed rabid dogs – they are building a digital prison for all to be tracked, traced and controlled. The NWO is here – and the more division and staged events are to make people more despondent and more dependent on the “beast” system – all the better and easier for the overlords. It is (New World) order out of chaos. Both sides are being played by one group of neo-cons and con artists. Get a grip on reality before it is turned into virtual reality with digital currency. Technocracy for one and all.
NO KINGS! Brought to you by people who voted for a presidential candidate who was coronated by the Commiecrat Party and didn’t receive one primary vote. It’s their people that are rioting, assaulting law enforcement, burning Tesla dealerships and all the recent assassinations are not being done by MAGA conservative Republicans.
It’s what they do. When Communists can’t get what they want by subterfuge, THEY KILL PEOPLE!
It’s down right rioting when disturbing other people’s belongings. I suppose Newports gonna let another far left. Antfa like organization march again downtown. BAILENT will probably be there too.