By Benjamin Cross
When you walk into a small-town diner in Vermont, you expect a hot cup of coffee, a plate of eggs, and maybe a friendly chat about the weather. What you don’t expect is for the business to be run by someone who openly wishes death upon her neighbors.
That’s exactly what’s happening at The Hartland Diner, owned by Nicole Bartner, right here in Windsor County. Instead of building community, Bartner has turned her diner’s Facebook page into a platform for rage, insults, and hostility. The evidence is right there in her own posts (see screenshots).
One post calls Republicans “filthy Rebs” who should “die screaming in a fire.” Another celebrates the death of Charlie Kirk and spins it into bizarre conspiracy theories. Others sneer at Christians, mocking scripture and praying that white evangelicals would vanish by sundown so “the rest of us can eat our pie in peace.”
This isn’t just “politics mixed with breakfast.” This is hate speech with hash browns.
The Line Bartner Crossed
Some will shrug and say, “It’s her page, she can say what she wants.” True — free speech covers a lot of ground, even the ugly parts. But let’s not confuse free speech with decent speech. When a local business owner uses her public platform to call for people to burn alive or disappear, it’s not just tasteless — it’s dangerous.
Free speech means you can speak without government punishment. It doesn’t mean the community has to stay silent while a business owner publicly dehumanizes her neighbors.
This Isn’t Vermont
Vermont is small. Hartland is smaller. We know our neighbors. We look out for one another. We’ve always prided ourselves on civility, even when we disagree.
Disagreement is healthy. Debate is necessary. But open calls for violence? Mocking the faith of half the town? That’s not Vermont. That’s not community. That’s bitterness, weaponized.
When a diner stops serving food and starts serving verbal venom, it ceases to be a place of welcome. It becomes something else entirely — a pulpit of hate dressed up as a breakfast joint.
A Choice for the Community
So here’s the question: Do you want your dollars funding this kind of rhetoric? Every cup of coffee sold is fuel for a business that mocks, demeans, and divides. Every time the community shrugs, it gives permission. And permission is how this kind of ugliness spreads.
Hartland deserves better. Vermont deserves better. A diner should bring people together, not cheer for their destruction.
The truth is simple: we don’t strengthen our state or our country by standing silent when local businesses preach hate. We strengthen it by saying, loud and clear: “No thanks — not here, not now, not ever.”
🔥 Final word: Hartland, Vermont doesn’t need a hate-pulpit disguised as a diner. And the fact that Nicole Bartner has chosen to make her business a megaphone for hate means the community has every right to push back. Don’t feed it with your silence — or your wallet.
54 responses to “When a Diner Turns into a Pulpit of Hate”
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this world is extremely hypocritical. People post about not bullying, then the same people do it. People post about love, and those same people spew hate. People post about unity, then speak divisive words. People demand we all be accepted for who we are, then demonize those who are unlike them. No matter how great the food is, which I wouldn’t know because I’ve never eaten there, the feeling from these hateful statements leaves a sour taste. But, its her restaurant, and yes, she can do and post as she pleases.
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She sounds like a real loser, surprised the good old boys from hartland put up with her shit, I remember when she was begging for money during covid, I bet she took every bit of money offered her whether it came out of a republican or democratic wallet.
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Nicole can do Nicole. It’s her business and the food is darn fantastic and she sources ingredients locally. Last I checked, this is still America. You have choices. Dont like it, do go there. That’s exactly the way she wants it. No different than a gun shop with pro Trump signs. You’re okay with that, right?
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Her food is nothing special and her prices are ridiculous, just a hateful nasty place, I love when the town Trumper parks his pickup on her doorstep!!
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That’s Me! Your welcome!
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Thank you, Tom Fairbanks. Wish she was closer. I’d gather up a bunch of friends for breakfast, order an insane amount of food, and just as it was about to be brought out…we’d get up and LEAVE!!! Lets this putrid, hate filled narcissist rot in her overpriced helhole of a diner.
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And I can go to the public sidewalk and record/audit everyone’s comings and goings.
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A Trump sign isn’t promoting hate and violence. She’s sick in the head and so is anybody that agrees with her.
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Growing up in Hartland I have eaten at a diner there before her owning it. Every place was inviting and the food was good.I know the good ol Hartland boys from back in the 50’s- 90’s would not put up with her garbage! The Upper Valley is changing and not a good change. She blocked me and Robin George for posting her hateful garbage. Here is one. Probably no verbatim but close. A sign on the front door. “IF YOU ARE A TRUMP SUPPORTER, YOU ARE NOT WELCOME HERE!” Then it went on calling names, etc. I hope she goes out of business and moves out of the great town of Hartland. She is an evil person.
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Does anyone know where she came from initially? How long has she owned it?
Was she a pandemic transplant like many of the others that have changed the upper valley and the community at large over the last 5 years? Sadly, it’s going in a bad direction in so many ways.
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Her lease has to run out eventually right?
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I only wish the article mentioned that most locals can’t afford her outlandish prices even if she could keep her politics to herself. It’s sad. Makes the trip to Fraziers all the more worthwhile.
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Never patroned the diner while she’s owned it because of past experiences with her. Unfortunately she has family money and doesn’t need our dime to stay in business. It’s definitely an embarrassment to the town.
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Well, people also have the right for peaceful protest. Maybe it is time for Hartland people to make signs and stand outside her business. Maybe that will cause out of towners/out of staters to not go in. Just a thought.
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Agreed! Signs showing her words (screenshots)!
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Or the opposite…? Start directing all of the out of staters there (and Dartmouth students?) so we can have our Aces back.
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Eph 6:11-12.
1 Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.
12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.Reminder to my Christian brothers and sisters. Don’t fall into the trap of arguing for God, or proving someone wrong. Be the good soldier for Jesus Christ and understand, this is a spiritual problem with people of this sort. They are deceived. Pray for them. And eat your waffles at 4 Aces Diner instead. They were always better anyway.
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The Diner before it was owned by Bartner was a place where town people congregated for a good meal which was affordable and also a place to meet up with friends and neighbors for good conversation and you knew most everyone in the diner. The Diner now attracts travelers going through Hartland that are looking for a quick meal and a few of her regulars. She has made this place a disgrace for the Town of Hartland. Yes, everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but she is downright full of hate. I wish we had another diner to go to and support in the town. Sad that she is right in the center of the town where everyone can see her hate spill out with all of her signs posted. Ate there once and will never eat there again. I have lived in Hartland most of my life and am sad that she is a part of our town. Please don’t support her hate!! She might be a good cook but that is all, she is hateful. Hartland was never like this, it is a nice town, and she is not showing the good that there is in this town.
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