This is beyond outrageous, both as an incident and what it says about the country right now. We are at the point where, despite this country’s proudest freedom, the right to free speech, a gentle, 69-year-old Pennsylvania man, sitting in a lawn chair near a street, can be (and has been) assaulted from behind by a 38 year old MAGA. The harmless man was thrown to the ground for simply holding an anti-Trump sign.

The victim is a retired social worker, Frank Ashbaugh, 69, of Allegheny Township, and he’s been protesting political causes for a decade. Social workers care. From the TribLive:

Michael Robert Atwood, 38, has been charged by Allegheny Township police with misdemeanor charges of simple assault and related charges for incidents that unfolded at a grassy intersection along Route 356. The location of the incident is a triangle-shaped median in between Route 356 and South Leechburg Hill Road that’s owned by Penn DOT.

As if it cannot get worse, this was far more than pushing the man over in his lawn chair, as told by Ashbaugh:

Atwood is accused of attacking Ashbaugh on July 1 as he sat in a lawn chair in the grassy area amid his protest signs. Ashbaugh said he was holding a “Trump Is A Loser And A Cheat” sign when the incident occurred.

“This guy hit me from behind and I never saw him coming,” Ashbaugh said of the afternoon attack.

Sickening. Truly sickening. And Ashbaugh went on to add that he thinks the man went out of his way, thinking about it for a while, parking off in a side lot, wearing gloves:

He was holding the anti-Trump sign when Atwood grabbed a camera strap around Ashbaugh’s neck and pulled Ashbaugh to the ground.

Jesus. This is all just so awful. We at this site have a policy in that we’re very wary in questioning prosecutors’ charging decisions. They know far more about the situation than we do and know the local court system. Most are good people. But a misdemeanor assault?

There is some hope for the country:

After the incident, Ashbaugh said he located Atwood on social media and reached out, offering to help teach him how to make his own protest signs. He said Atwood never responded.

We have to believe there are more Ashbaughs than Atwood. There are.

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