Kevin Kerwin storefront.png

Kevin Kerwin, whose computer repair shop in Lake Oswego often sports anti-liberal signage, has shuttered his business and moved to "a red state."

(Instagram photo by Teresa Raiford)

Kevin Kerwin, whose pro-Trump leanings and anti-liberal signage has made him somewhat of a celebrity in conservative media, has shuttered his Lake Oswego computer repair shop.

In a sign posted to his storefront, Kerwin writes:

"Thank you Lake Oswego for 10 years of awesome. I've moved my Shop to a Red State So I can enjoy the next 8 years with My Fellow Deplorables - Go Trump. We Won Get Over It. (all sic)"

A photo of the storefront was posted to Instagram Tuesday afternoon by Don't Shoot PDX leader Teressa Raiford.

The conservative firebrand, known as "Kevin the Geek," made headlines last month as one of the principal organizers of the March 4 Trump. He later stepped down after several of his racially insensitive Facebook posts began to circulate online.

In a phone interview with The Oregonian/OregonLive, Kerwin lamented the cascade of counter demonstrators that flooded Lake Oswego the day of the march.

The computer repairman also said he had received threatening phone calls in the days leading up to the event. One caller, he said, growled menacingly and said Kerwin wouldn't go out and march.

"Okay, Darth Vader. What's your deal?" he remembers thinking.

Kerwin chalked it up to a case of sour grapes.

"I just wish liberals would get their act together," he said. "Freedom of speech is a right and not what they decide can be said or not. You don't stop other people from speaking out."

The computer repairman said the protests were the last straw. He decided to relocate in the hours after the march.

"We were going to have a little march for Trump and all you liberals came out from Portland to shut us down," he said. "Why'd you do that? I don't know what planet y'all live on."

Kerwin said he'd "just had it" with the state's left-leaning voters, most of whom he said "have totally gone crazy that Trump won."

"I don't know why liberals have to shut everyone down for what they believe in," he said.

The computer repair shop owner is no stranger to controversy. Back in January, he was interviewed by Fox News when he hung signage on his store window calling both liberals and Bruce Springsteen "idiots."

In 2012, he also earned the praise of conservative media by posting a sign on his store window telling President Obama, "I built this business by myself." It was a rebuke of Obama's then-famous "you didn't build that" speech, in which the president tried to appeal to small business owners by pointing out infrastructure such as roads and bridges were funded by taxpayers.

Kerwin has also shaken off criticism from fellow March 4 Trump organizers. During the Lake Oswego event, Carol Pressnall Leek, one of the event's Facebook administrators, said Kerwin "did not represent these people."

Kerwin claims organizers distanced themselves from him "so you don't make them look like racists."

As for what's next, Kerwin has "a couple of places in mind" to settle down. Before moving to Lake Oswego in 2006, he had worked in New Orleans, according to his website.

He told The Oregonian/OregonLive that he's been on the road for the last few days. He'll hang his hat in one of the next few places he visits.

"I'm going to start over and just build my clientele wherever I go," Kerwin said.

--Eder Campuzano | 503.221.4344

@edercampuzano

ecampuzano@oregonian.com