While the lurid messages and wishes for the death of a conservative New Jersey mother and Board of Education member capture the headlines, the real story is being glossed over: law enforcement has brought zero charges against the perpetrators, once again illustrating that you – and only you – are your own first defender.
The drama unfolded in Marlboro, New Jersey beginning in September, but has gotten more press over the last couple of weeks. Conservative mother of three and Board of Education member, Danielle Bellomo, was the subject of lurid comments and even wishes for her death in a group chat titled “This Bitch Needs to Die”.
According to reports, the chat group allegedly included the husband of another board member, Mitesh Gandhi, along with former public-school teacher Lenny Thor, board Vice President Chad Hyett. Gandhi allegedly called Ms. Bellomo “a lying c–t,” writing, “stupid c–t. I swear she can’t die soon enough,” and, “Mission is to just let her die by herself lol.”
“I always knew there was disagreement politically, but I never really wrapped my head around the fact that they actually wanted me dead,” Bellomo told Fox in an interview. Bellomo has described herself as a Trump supporter and a “MAGA” conservative. “We should be able to debate. We should be able to disagree,” Bellomo said. “But it should never rise to the level of wanting to hurt someone. We can do better than this.”
As reported by the New York Post, police in Marlboro consulted with the Democratic county prosecutor, Raymond Santiago, who declined to take the case and stated the behavior did not “meet the threshold of criminal activity.”
Bellomo has also told the media that the Superintendent and Board President have refused to act in accordance with town policies preventing someone who has made a threat from being on school property.
A Monmouth county judge has issued a protective order against Gandhi, which will continue through January.
The Overton window on acceptable political discourse has shifted far enough that threats of violence are, in some cases, not treated seriously by politically-motivated prosecutors, especially when those threats are against conservatives. Those threats often embolden others to commit actual violence as illustrated in the assassination of the United Healthcare CEO, Brian Thompson, the assassination of Charlie Kirk, and the barely-thwarted attempted assassination of a Supreme Court Justice in June.
None of this should be a surprise to our readers. The lesson time and again is that law enforcement will rarely prevent crime; it’s up to the individual to take the security of their person and that of their family into their own hands by exercising their right to be armed, trained, and prepared to use deadly force when lawful and necessary.
