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Former Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens, a Republican candidate for the Senate, is being widely criticized after he posted a campaign ad on Monday showing him pretending to chase members of his own party.
“We’re going to hunt RINO today,” Greitens announced in the video, using the acronym for the mocking phrase “Republicans in Name Only.”
In the ad, Greitens is outside a house with a team of others dressed in tactical clothes and whispers: “The RINO feeds on corruption and is marked by the lines of cowardice.”
Then the tactical team opens the door, detonates smoke bombs inside and climbs in with their weapons unholstered.
“Join the MAGA crew. Get a RINO hunting permit, “says Greitens, standing inside a seemingly empty house surrounded by smoke.
The announcement was made Monday morning on several social media accounts belonging to Greitens and his campaign in the Senate.
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The video was removed from Facebook “for violating our policies prohibiting violence and incitement,” according to Facebook spokesman Andy Stone, but the video remained on Twitter and YouTube in the early hours of Monday afternoon.
“While this video does not violate our community guidelines, it is not monetized or advertised,” said YouTube spokeswoman Ivy Choi.
About four hours after Greitens posted the video, Twitter posted a warning label on the tweet, saying it “violated Twitter’s rules on abusive behavior.” However, Twitter has left the video with a message that the company “determined that it may be in the public interest for the tweet to remain accessible.”
The announcement comes amid a wave of political violence and threats against public officials, as well as a general vitriol environment within conservative circles that intersects former President Donald Trump’s baseless claims that the 2020 election will be manipulated and those of the GOP who have spoken. against these claims.
The Washington Post last year tracked how election officials in at least 17 states received threats of violence in the months following the January 6, 2021 Capitol attack, often directly provoked by Trump’s comments. .
On Sunday, Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) Shared that his wife had received a letter in the mail threatening to run his family, including his 5-month-old baby. Kinzinger is one of 10 Republicans who broke with his party last year and voted to oust Trump, and has since been criticized by Trump and his allies as a “RINO.”
Kinzinger has also extracted the vitriol from Republican voters and members of his own party for being one of two Republican lawmakers on the select committee of the House investigating the Jan. 6 attack.
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“There’s violence in the future, I’ll tell you, “Kinzinger told ABC’s” This Week “on Sunday, talking about the death threats he and others have received.” And until we can tell the truth to people , we can’t wait for something else “.
Greitens’ campaign announcement also comes after high-profile mass shootings, including at a Buffalo grocery store on May 14, killing 10 people, and in Uvalde, Tex., Where 19 children and two teachers went to be murdered at Robb Elementary School on May 24th. These and other shootings sparked nationwide protests against armed violence and have sparked some bipartisan talks in Congress on arms security legislation.
The ad was quickly criticized by those who warned that the Greitens video could lead to real-world violence.
“This is sociopathic,” tweeted MP Joaquin Castro (D-Tex.). “You’re going to kill someone.”
Democratic National Committee Chairman Jaime Harrison called the video “radical … extreme … baffling.” Former Congressman Joe Walsh, who left the Republican Party because of his criticism of Trump, said he was not surprised by the announcement and called on those in the GOP who still support Trump.
“To all the Republicans today who are thinking of criticizing this announcement: you can’t criticize this and still support Trump,” Walsh tweeted. “There is ZERO difference between Eric Greitens and Donald Trump. In fact, your cowardly hug from Trump led directly to Greitens and [Marjorie Taylor] Greene, i [Lauren] Boebert, i … “
Others pointed to Greitens’ own history of violence. A former Navy SEAL has been accused by his ex-wife of domestic violence, including physical violence against his children. He has denied these allegations.
Greitens resigned as governor of Missouri in 2018 in disgrace after an affair with a former hairdresser that included allegations of abuse and blackmail. He launched his campaign in the Senate last year after Senator Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) Announced that he would retire at the end of his term.
Representatives of the Republican Party, the National Republican Senatorial Committee and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) Did not respond to requests for comment.
Cristiano Lima and Rosalind Helderman contributed to this report.