In light of the reported attack against General Don Bolduc, the New Hampshire Republican Senate Nominee, we would like to correct the record.
Publications including the NY Post, Yahoo News, Breitbart, and many others have reported on an incident between Bolduc and political activists outside last night’s debate. Unfortunately, their reports seem to conflict with the clear video footage of the incident from multiple angles. The publications quoted Kevin Donohoe, Bolduc’s campaign manager, who said that he was attacked and/or punched. The video shows that he was not struck by the man in the video, who is Joa Orga. Joa is a well-known liberty activist, journalist, and web & graphic designer from New Hampshire. He is known to be very peaceful and sweet. His government accountability channel is one of the largest on YouTube. He clearly approaches the General in the video with his camera and microphone to ask him a question. Bolduc immediately points at Orga and begins shouting “He hit me! He hit me!” while beckoning the cops to apprehend him for being too close to Bolduc. Simultaneously, pro-Bolduc activists move from behind Bolduc and attempt to apprehend Orga. Due to the crowd density, the Bolduc supporters touch Bolduc, which the candidate may have confused for an Orga assault. A few of the Bolduc supporters seem to shove Orga, who was quickly arrested by Goffstown Police.
It seems understandable why the candidate, his supporters, and mainstream media have run with the narrative that a famous candidate was ‘attacked’ by the opposition. It is unfortunate that so many partisan Republicans are blaming Democrats for attacking Bolduc when there was no attack and the person in question was a libertarian activist.
Another unfortunate result of this Smollett-like incident is the strife that it is causing within New Hampshire’s liberty community. The live free or die state is home to the largest liberty community of any state per capita. However, this broad movement includes thousands of individuals, who each have their own unique beliefs. They range from conservative to libertarian to voluntaryist, and each person has their own distinct flavor of liberty. There has always been some disagreement within the movement, and it often heats up during election season. But last night’s incident was quite unusual and is causing more dissension than battles in the past. Conservatives for Bolduc and libertarians for Kauffman (or just against Bolduc) are digging in their heels and losing their composure, perhaps blinded by their opposition to the ideas represented by the extreme fringe of the other side.
In the case of libertarians and Bolduc, it seems that their primary issue with him is his stance on foreign military intervention. Libertarians range from non-interventionist all the way to pacifist. When Bolduc went on Fox News and advocated for strong American support for Ukraine in the war against Russia, many libertarians wished to ask him questions about his statements. He has walked back some of his support for that war, but has been less than enthusiastic about engaging with the anti-war libertarians at town hall events or in interviews. Other libertarians in New Hampshire would like to see Bolduc condemn federal policies such as the war on drugs, surveillance, and gun control. They also wanted him to support the inclusion of Libertarian candidate Jeremy Kauffman – who will be on the ballot – in the debates.
Bolduc’s site says that he supports energy independence, a strong border, and defending our God-given liberties, including the second amendment.
Many libertarians will likely vote for Kauffman in order to help the Libertarian Party of New Hampshire achieve the required 4% threshold necessary to grant them automatic ballot access for the 2024 elections. Many other libertarians will likely support Bolduc on Tuesday, feeling that retiring Senator Hassan and sending a much more pro-liberty outsider to DC to replace her.
One voluntaryist who is very involved in New Hampshire politics believes that there are 5 practical reasons to vote for Bolduc.
“1) Always punish the incumbent. It puts fear into all politicians. Especially the tyrannical ones.
2) Bolduc is more pro-liberty than Hassan.
3) Our congressional delegation being 100% Democrat is perhaps the largest impediment to FSP recruitment, in my experience. Retiring Hassan fixes this.
4) Hassan losing may cause a few thousand socialists to give up on NH and move to MA.
5) There is a greater chance that we can work with Senator Bolduc than Senator Hassan.”
We encourage our readers to watch this video, which shows the incident from multiple angles.
We hope that the national media, rather than inflaming this, helps to calm this down.
We at the Liberty Block encourage fierce debate between sincere stakeholders on all issues. In fact, our weekly podcast often includes very intense debate among our incredible hosts. We humbly request that all passionate believers in liberty in the great state of New Hampshire take a deep breath, relax, and then re-engage in this debate with a mature disposition, focusing on the issues rather than the personalities or fabricated skirmishes.
During the debate, Bolduc referred to the incident as political violence. Since Wednesday night, Bolduc has walked back his statements, first saying that Orga swung at him and “grazed” him, and then conceding that he didn’t touch him but may have wished to touch him.
Co-hosting Free Talk Live – a radio show syndicated on 190 stations throughout the united states and a podcast and video show – on Thursday evening, Orga told the full story to the listeners. He said that he approached Bolduc while filming and said “You suck. You suck. Don’t go to war.” Bolduc began pointing and claiming he was hit around one second after Joa approached him.
Orga was arrested by Goffstown PD officers Gammella and Hozeny and is being charged with disorderly conduct and trespassing.
This article does not necessarily reflect the opinions of The Liberty Block or any of its staff. We welcome all forms of serious feedback and debate.
