Appalling behavior of PA State Senator at the National Civics Bee

[Buttoneer]

Found this on Facebook:

[Quiet Em]

1. What a disgusting creep.

Very apalling and extremely inappropriate.

[roscoeroscoe]

2. What a Dick

MAGA thinks it's okay to bully kids now.

[2naSalit]

3. Well...

It's only a preliminary since they are okay with raping children.

[yardwork]

30. I immediately wonder about this guy.

What's on his computer, I wonder.

[Irish_Dem]

57. I agree, this guy is fixated/fantasizing about children and pornography.

It appears to be all he could think about while looking at the kids all around him.

[slightlv]

59. Isn't this true of most of the republicans?

If there's a case in the news, you can bet it's either a republican congress critter, a christian priest, or a maga.

[Irish_Dem]

61. Yes many GOP are obsessed with sexual issues.

Genitalia, reproduction, pregnancy, sexual abuse, pornography, gender, etc.

Fixated and quite upset about all of it.

So we know there are unresolved psychological issues with these people.
And they keep projecting these issues on other people.

[tanyev]

4. Might want to dig a little deeper on an adult who wants to discuss pornography with a 6th grader.

Just sayin'.

[newdeal2]

6. Agree there may be more to the story here

[mdbl]

10. Sure makes one wonder.

[Hotler]

11. +1. nt

[Rincewind]

5. Whenever some asshat asks

something like that, you should always answer "like in the Bible?"

[mountain grammy]

7. Porn never leaves his mind

What a creep.

[BOSSHOG]

17. Yeah

Porn belongs under the mattress of elected republicans with conservative values not in libraries. Except for the Bible. The Bible can be prominently displayed in libraries. Especially the Ilustrated version of the Old Testament.

[lastlib]

18. Off the subject.....

I call it the "Outdated Testament."

[Martin68]

8. Deplorables.

[Karadeniz]

9. He wouldnt know what the inside of a library looks like....

[lastlib]

19. hell, he doesn't know what the inside of a BOOK looks like.

These people can't read books--they're too busy dragging their knuckles on the ground.

[Karadeniz]

20. Ha !

[Aviation Pro]

12. An inappropriate response

"Why? Are you shopping around for your next underaged girlfriend, creep?"

[FakeNoose]

36. A 12-year-old girl would never respond in that manner

However it's a great response for any of the adults in the room.

[Clouds Passing]

13. He must be a pedo like all the other Rs.

[librechik]

14. too true. Unfortunately.

[Icanthinkformyself]

15. He's a Republican and Christian

Of course pornography is on his mind. It's all many of them, apparently, think and talk about to obsession. From the floor of the House to the school yards of America sex with children is a regular topic. 'Aqualung' comes to mind.

[mdbl]

16. Too disgusting for words.

[travelingthrulife]

21. This fool probably thought he scored 'big man' points there.

[yardwork]

31. By picking on a sixth grader.

[Botany]

22. File a complaint with the Pennsylvania's State Legislature Senate Leadership and find a State Senator

….. who is decent and ask him/her to bring up State Senator Argall’s actions in front of
the right committee or on the Senate Floor.

Btw these people live in an unreal world of right wing lies and like others on this thread
I have no doubt he has his own issues with porn and underage girls.

[PhylliPretzel]

24. My state senator is a decent man

and I alerted him to this situation and asked him to take action.
Thank you for the suggestion.

[FakeNoose]

38. Good move

I'm also in PA and I'm thinking of doing the same. We have a lot of good Democratic representatives here in the Pittsburgh area.

[Prairie Gates]

23. What an absolute jerk

If he wanted to ask the question respectfully and in an age appropriate way, he would have said "Should any book about anything be in the library?" This would have gotten the child to think about what the criteria might be for inclusion. Instead, he thinks he's starring on the Joe Rogan show at an elementary school civics bee. Human garbage.

This fucking clown probably thinks he "won" the debate with a "leftist" 12 year old. These people have lost their fucking minds.

[PCIntern]

25. Somebody check this slimy prick's home computer

Indictments to follow, quite possibly.

[AltairIV]

26. Congratulations and I'm sorry.

I am sorry you had to be exposed to that with younger members of your family present. This senator sounds like a despicable "little" man, perhaps someone should have called the police and had him arrested for endangering the welfare of a minor or some sort of obscenity charge. Congratulations on an amazing performance by your daughter.

[IbogaProject]

27. I lothe the GOP

But I normally try and keep my composure but this incident fills me with rage. How dare this creep bring his filthy world into a grade school and shove it into a six grader's mouth. .

[IthinkThereforeIAM]

28. Projecting his own desires/faults upon a kid...

... WARNING FLAGS need to go up about this guy.

[lindysalsagal]

29. Idiots who get a couple hundred more votes than the other candidate think they wake up brilliant

and entitled the day after the election. Fools.

[Fil1957]

32. What he did was horrible and inappropriate, but he did apologize,

most Repugs wouldn't.

[dickthegrouch]

50. Apologized just before he was arrested?

And if he wasn't arrested, why not?
Anyone else tries to engage in sexual behavior with a minor would be arrested. Apologies don't negate crimes.
If I had been the parent, I'd have asked if there was any law enforcement officer in the room and then asked, point blank, "Are you going to arrest this vile creep?"
I'd certainly ask for any video records and submit them to the District Attorney for follow up.

The sponsors of the event, and the moderator, apparently stood by and didn't remove the creep from the stage, what's with that?

This sort of thing might have become unremarkable under the current regime, but it must not be allowed to stay that way.

Everyone needs to be ready to confront this kind of behavior at the time and with forceful disgust and condemnation.

[Wednesdays]

33. Perfect example of a strawman argument

Trumpers are masters at it. In essence, "You support free speech? So then you support pornography in libraries!"

[young_at_heart]

34. I'm interested to hear what the GOP around the country has to say?

Do they agree with him??

[Pas-de-Calais]

35. Hillary named them completely correctly

[chowder66]

37. Here is an article on it.

The parent of a sixth grade student competing at Wednesday’s local round of the National Civics Bee raised concern about what she believed was an inappropriate question asked of her daughter by state Sen. David G. Argall, one of the event’s judges.

During the event, held at Penn State Schuylkill, judges took turns asking each of the top five contestants questions about the essays they had submitted for the Civics Bee.

Mary A., a sixth grader at North Schuylkill, told the panel about her essay topic — book banning. The National Civics Bee has a strict policy stating that competitors should only be identified by their first name and last initial.

When it was Argall’s turn to talk to her, he noted the issue was relevant and widely debated in the state Senate. He then repeated to Mary a question that he said was brought up to the Senate recently:

https://www.republicanherald.com/2025/04/17/civics-bee-question-stirs-controversy/

[chowder66]

39. The thing that bothers me is why would an adult man even feel comfortable speaking like this to a child.

There is a massive disconnect there which is troublesome.

[MagickMuffin]

40. And you sir, Are you a rapist and pedophile?

Certainly seems something is off here. Perhaps the senate is a pedophile. He looks like one preying on children.

[Dyedinthewoolliberal]

41. If there is someone running against him at the next election

I would make a donation!

[angryxyouth]

42. Just asking for a friend

It’s something he’s been thinking about. He loves the look on children’s faces when they first look at pornography

[Timeflyer]

43. Trashy, pervy GOP politician who shouldn't be near our children or our government. Sadly typical,

using a child as a political theater prop for himself. Disgusting.

[COL Mustard]

44. I'm surprised he didn't offer

To “mentor” the young woman.

[Marcuse]

45. He should confer with the Speaker of the USHR. Mike's Johnson has an app for that.

[dchill]

46. The definition of "smug..."

(He's the one on the far right...)

?w=1080

[Deminpenn]

48. Note the body language

All the other judges are sitting straight and appear to be listening to the speakers. But not Argall. He's leaning back with his arms crossed over his chest, a clear indication of bring closed off from or uninterested in hearing what's being said.

[dchill]

49. A tribute to the Trump way.

[LudwigPastorius]

64. What a smug prick.

[D_Master81]

47. They always go to the extreme

Obviously if there’s books with naked pictures in a public library then I doubt many have a problem. But how many books have been banned that don’t have those?

[CrispyQ]

51. Maybe this prick needs Mikey's porn app since pornographic magazines are on his mind.

These people are so disgusting. I'm just stunned at the level we've fallen to, that this kind of discourse won't derail his career.

[ZDU]

52. What a low-life human he must be...

He's disgusting.

[soldierant]

53. I think the last Republican able to "set aside personal bias" may have been

Eisenhower. And it doesn't even do him as much credit as you might think. He was talking about enforcing Brown v. Board.

The statement was referred to in an opinion from the Fourth Court of Appeals cited by Harry Litman - Harry doesn't quote those words, but he does link to the full opinion.
https://harrylitman.substack.com/p/an-extraordinary-opinion-for-the

[Godot51]

54. Creep

Perhaps his browser history will tell us more.

[PedroXimenez]

55. the debate bro mentality

he was trying to "own" a 6th grader in the battle of ideas.

[OldBaldy1701E]

56. "Is it appropriate to give pornography to kindergarteners?"

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAThats the dumbest thing I have ever heard of, next question?"

(My dream response.)

[4nic8em]

58. This guys

real name should be Commander Handmaid.

[kerry-is-my-prez]

60. Not only does THAT mother have to explain porn, but all the parents.

Nice going!

[spooky3]

62. He "apologized" but you know he's thrilled he got attention.

https://www.pennlive.com/news/2025/04/pa-gop-lawmaker-apologizes-for-questioning-a-12-year-old-about-pornography-at-civics-event.html?outputType=amp

[red dog 1]

63. All these Republican Shitler enablers, in the House and in the Senate, are truly disgusting!

(And this A$$HOLE is only one of them)

[ailsagirl]

65. What a CLOD!!!

😡🤨😖