#

Not long ago, state Rep. Travis Corcoran (R-Weare) wanted everyone to drop the “N-bomb.”

Now he just wants to drop the subject.

Corcoran, a self-styled intellectual rebel and part-time sci-fi writer (“a band of malcontents, dreamers, and libertarian radicals bolted privately-developed antigravity drives onto rusty seagoing cargo ships…”) took to Twitter earlier this year to urge everyone who follows him use the N-word as a protest against woke culture.

“We must all say or type the word’ n*gger’ in a public place, as a declaration that the progs can’t control our thoughts or our behaviors — EVEN IF WE DISLIKE THE WORD,” Corcoran wrote on his personal @MorlockP Twitter account. “It’s the ‘small pinch of incense’ test, in reverse. They demand ritual obedience. Disobey.”

Corcoran claimed in follow-up tweets that he dislikes the N-word and did not want to hurt people. But he thought it was important to use it to boldly push back against liberals in the fight for free speech and open expression.

As he says in his Twitter bio, “I came here to chew bubble gum and fight for a free New Hampshire…and I’m all out of bubble gum.”

So, what was his reaction when a NHJournal reporter called him to discuss his posts?

Corcoran hung up.

He also declined to respond to emails asking questions about his online persona.

And while Corcoran suggests he dislikes the N-word, he’s apparently comfortable with other slurs, a review of his social media reveals.

In 2021, Corcoran wrote, “I had some idiot respond to me, ‘What sort of person needs to spend $100K on a watch?’ Pissed me off to no end. I know, you know, and he knows that no one feels a NEED. They WANT to. And more power to them. People can spend on whatever they want. Using ‘need’ is a f*ggot move.”

In 2014, Corcoran tweeted, “You can say ‘the gay lifestyle is destructive’ w/o saying ‘disgusting f*ggots get diseases.’”

Corcoran’s troubling behavior online stretches back to his blog, where he defended the 2011 attempted assassination of Arizona Democratic Rep. Gabby Giffords. 

“I think that it is morally legitimate to kill pro-regulation senators and pro-regulation judges, if it can be done without harming innocents,” he wrote. (In fact, the shooter was schizophrenic and not motivated by partisan ideology.) When he made the comments, Corcoran was living in Massachusetts and working as a comic book dealer. He made national news when police followed up on his comments and seized a large cache of weapons from his home.

State GOP leaders, already dealing with the arrest of state Sen. Keith Murphy (R-Manchester) on assault charges, declined to respond to requests for comment. Several House members who spoke to NHJournal on background described Corcoran as “a bit full of himself.” And, one member noted, during the last session, a Hosue Democrat was heard shouting the N-word at a Black teen activist inside the State House.

Meanwhile, Corcoran has responded to the latest controversy online.

“Holy cow, I’m about to cross 2,500 followers….and by looking at the bios of the new followers, they’re all conservatives and libertarians,” Corcoran tweeted. “I’d like to thank all of the NH Dems who tweeted about me for making this possible.”

Manchester Republican Victoria Sullivan had her Twitter account permanently suspended last week after she shared a New Hampshire Journal article about Manchester’s homeless crisis. And she has no idea why.

“If you’re a conservative, especially a conservative woman, they try to silence your voice,” she told NHJournal.

Sullivan, a former state representative and two-time mayoral candidate in Manchester, tweeted NHJournal’s coverage of Mayor Joyce Craig’s ongoing struggle to address the city’s growing homeless crisis. Soon after, Twitter shut down her account.

Sullivan says she does not know why she was suspended. “I am appealing, but they don’t tell you anything,” Sullivan said. “They don’t tell you what Twitter rules were violated.”

Craig was once considered a rising star in the New Hampshire Democratic Party, believed to have her eye on a run for the governor’s office. Amid the crime and homelessness during her tenure, however, many Democrats privately express doubts about a bid for higher office. Last week, Craig and a group of her fellow Democratic mayors wrote Gov. Chris Sununu asking him to deploy the National Guard to address the homelessness plaguing their cities and towns. Critics say it was an attempt to deflect criticism for her mismanagement of the issue.

Sullivan said she is not a heavy Twitter user. On Thursday she retweeted New Hampshire Journal’s article with her own comments, including the demand for Craig to resign. In the days before the suspension, Sullivan also posted videos of Manchester business owners speaking at a public Board of Alderman meeting about the homeless crisis impacting the city.

This is not the first time Sullivan has been banned on Twitter. During her first run for mayor, Sullivan was booted from the platform and unable to get back on despite an appeal. She thinks her photos from the Women’s Self-Defense League family picnic may have triggered someone enough that she was reported.

Sullivan said New Hampshire liberals engage in egregious behavior on the platform without any seeming reprisals from the company. Rep. Maria Perez (D-Milford) was forced to issue an apology in 2021 after she sent a post about Israel widely viewed as anti-Semitic. Rep. Alissandra Rodríguez-Murray, (D-Manchester) referred to Jewish people as termites on the platform last year.  In 2019, New Hampshire Democratic Party Chair Ray Buckley retweeted a post that included the “N-word.”

All three are still active on Twitter.

Twitter did not respond to multiple requests for information, including an explanation for Sullivan’s suspension. The phone number listed on the company website does not seem to work and the email address for the Twitter media relations team immediately bounced back.

Twitter’s corporate offices are reportedly in turmoil a few months after the company was bought out by mercurial billionaire Elon Musk for $44 billion. After firing most of the Twitter staff, Musk himself has come under fire for his handling of the social media company.

According to the Associated Press, the company no longer has a media relations team. The AP was seeking comment on its story reporting Twitter is behind on rent payments for the San Francisco headquarters.

Meanwhile, Craig’s struggles to manage Manchester’s homeless crisis continue. The city suffered several high-profile incidents over the Christmas holidays, including the deaths of two homeless people and the birth of a child in freezing temperatures at a homeless encampment. The mother, Alexandra Eckersley, 26, was well known to Manchester authorities. She is the daughter of former Red Sox pitcher and sports commentator Dennis Eckersley.

The baby was naked and struggling to breathe when authorities found him.

Facing political blowback. Craig issued an order to vacate Sunday for the homeless encampment on the corner of Manchester and Pine Streets. “The notice will be posted at 9:00 a.m. on Monday, January 9, 2023, and individuals must vacate themselves and their belongings by 12:00 a.m. on Tuesday, January 17,” according to a statement from the Craig administration.

“At what point does Gov. Sununu decide the state must step in?” Sullivan said in response to the news. “These people will be scattered into our trails, in our neighborhood, and many will die. This is insanity!”