Warning: This post contains quite a lot of bad, offensive language. It all comes from the subject of the post. I feel that it must be presented in unexpurgated form because it illustrates the mindset of the subject. The worst of the language will be in quote boxes and preceded by trigger warnings.

Hey everybody, get a load of Hank Poitras, d/b/a Planet Hank, video artiste and right-wing provocateur who is scheduled to share a platform on Friday with state Rep. Michael Boutin of Barre and Vermont Republican Party chair Paul Dame.

Poitras is also, apparently, chair of the Brattleboro Republican Committee.

And I’m here to tell you that Vermont Republicans would be well advised to sever all ties with Poitras because he is provably a “misogynistic, narcissistic sociopath,” in the words of New Hampshire progressive videographer “Kyle from the Shire.” That characterization is fully warranted, given the flood of online content produced by Poitras himself. It includes plenty of racist, misogynistic, and hateful material, the kind of stuff that makes disgraced former senator Sam Douglass look like Mr. Rogers by comparison.

Oh, and he also has a criminal record from his time living in New Hampshire.

Best strap yourselves in, folks, because this is going to be a bumpy ride. Complete with trigger warnings.

Where do I start? Well, how about the image above? Planet Hank flying the double bird as he lets loose with an unhinged rant apparently aimed at his ex-wife. Here’s the first trigger warning.

Baby moms can fuckin’ eat a dick, yo, all you independent liberal women with your child support and WIC and — y’all are nasty. Y’all are nasty. Y’all fuckin’ goddamn have a bunch of kids and divorce the fuckin’ parents and ruined all the kids’ lives. That’s why the kids hate you and shit.

He then complained about having to pay child support. Real Father of the Year material there.

The above excerpt was taken by Kyle from a Planet Hank video. As was this bit of — well, either barely contained rage or performative misogyny. Trigger warning #2, and this one is worse than the first:

Fuck that womb, bitch. Fuck that womb. Not only are you aborting the baby, we’re taking your organs out too, bitch. We’re takin’ all that shit out. We’re takin’ every single part except the fuckin’ pussy walls, right? All you need’s the pussy. Then we’re gonna cauterize the top of it so it’s just a tube that leads to a dead end.

Okay, trigger warning over. Any comment, Rep. Boutin or Mr. Dame?

Governor?

Planet Hank’s main stock in trade is on-the-street video of Brattleboro police confronting people who’ve allegedly broken the law. Many residents believe the police department is on Hank’s side — or at least it was until February 2025, when several dozen distasteful social media comments by Poitras were screengrabbed and posted on Facebook. (The entire archive has been preserved in a Google Drive folder.) Some of the more colorful entries, again with trigger warning:

Black people hate all white people, this is why we carry weapons… We see you people, remember that next time you’re targeted.

Liberals want to fuck little kids, they are all in on it. Liberal = pedophile.

[In reference to a photo of E. Jean Carroll, who has accused Donald Trump of sexual assault] Why would anyone rape this ugly woman?

Liberal women are ugly.

Make sure to flush condoms after fucking, these 2023 women might squirt that shit in they coochie after you leave.

He also accused drag queens of pedophilia, said that Rev. Al Sharpton should be “banished from public representation” (whatever that means), used the offensive word “retard” more than once, condemned a stage production of “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” for casting a Black child, approvingly retweeted an anti-trans post by Elon Musk, called Black Lives Matter a “terrorist group,” referred to the Covid vaccine as “lizard blood,” and called Tom Hanks a “pedophile.”

Okay, trigger warnings have now expired.

When asked about the posts by The Keene Sentinel, Poitras did not deny authorship but claimed they’d been taken out of context. Which is nonsense, because his posts are brief and self-contained. Each screenshot includes an entire post. There is no context.

After the archive became public, the Brattleboro Police Department issued a statement distancing itself from Poitras. Which hasn’t convinced some local residents, who still see signs of close cooperation between the BPD and Planet Hank.

The police might have saved themselves some public embarrassment it they’d checked into Poitras’ record in New Hampshire. In 2010 he was charged with possession of child sexual abuse images, and in 2013 he was convicted of assaulting a bar owner with a baseball bat and sentenced to serve 15 days in jail.

I suppose you could argue that was a long time ago and everyone deserves a second (or third) chance. But then you get to the downright obnoxiousness of his presence on social media and self-produced video content. That’s recent, and it’s far too big and comprehensive to ignore.

Which leads me to ask again if Paul Dame or Michael Boutin has commented on their joint appearance with this douchecanoe? Does Gov. Phil Scott have anything to say about a fellow Republican officeholder and the actual head of the state Republican Party making common cause with Planet Hank? Does he endorse Poitras’ role in the party’s official hierarchy?

If Vermont Republicans are serious about distancing themselves from the know-nothings of the conservative movement, then Dame and Boutin need to withdraw from the Friday eventy unless Poitras is removed from the bill. And Poitras must be banished from all roles in the party. If they dropped Sam Douglass like he was a live grenade, they should be running as fast as they can as far away from Planet Hank as possible.

In case anyone out there is going to cry “First Amendment,” let me be clear: Poitras has the absolute right to spout whatever hateful shit he wants. And he has to face the consequences, including a well-deserved pariah status among responsible conservatives. At minimum. This isn’t cancel culture at work; this is maintaining basic standars of human decency.

And if any members of the Brattleboro Police Department are still cooperating with Planet Hank, they should stop immediately.