JUNCTION, Utah-Piute County Commissioner Darin Bushman compared Utah Gov. Gary Herbert to Nazi party leader Adolf Hitler after Herbert allowed Salt Lake and Summit Counties to make masks mandatory in their counties.
From his “personal Twitter account,” Bushman tweeted that “it won’t be long before you are required to do the ‘Sieg Heil’ [a salute used by the Nazis during Hitler’s reign in Germany] salute to Herbert.”
The tweet, which has since been deleted, is accompanied by a graphic of German youth doing the Nazi victory salute.
Incidentally, Piute County is one of the counties that has been able to advance to green status under Herbert’s Utah Leads Together 2.0 initiative as of June 19. Per the Central Utah Public Health Department of Richfield (the district to which Piute County belongs), Piute County has had only 2 cases of COVID-19, each of which have recovered.
Friday, Herbert’s office responded to the tweet, saying that while there are disagreements concerning policy for mask-wearing, civility is expected in public discourse.
Furthermore, Herbert’s office chastises Bushman for trivializing the Holocaust with his comments.
Nonprofit organization Alliance For A Better Utah called for Bushman’s resignation but Bushman subsequently tweeted he has no intentions to do so.
While I appreciate your input, I have no intention of resigning. Thank you.
— Darin Bushman – (Personal Account) (@darinbushman) June 26, 2020
