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PA-Gov: Poof! Doug Mastriano (R) Busted Deleting His Most Bat Sh*t Crazy Viral Facebook Videos [1]
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Date: 2022-07-19
Extremist Doug Mastriano (R. PA)
Can’t say that I’m surprised:
The videos were a sort-of virtual ride-along with Doug Mastriano as he crisscrossed Pennsylvania in the governor’s race, regaling viewers with his far-right musings about climate change, abortion and critics within his own party. In one live broadcast on Facebook in April, Mr. Mastriano, a Republican state senator, referred to climate change as “pop science.” In a separate video on his social media from a radio interview, three days after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June, he dismissed the issue of abortion rights as a distraction. And when trying to explain in April why some Republicans would not support him, Mr. Mastriano, a retired Army colonel, attributed it to their “disdain for veterans.” But now that Mr. Mastriano is the G.O.P. nominee for governor, having been helped by the endorsement of former President Donald J. Trump in the primary, he is shifting to the general election — and those videos have vanished. The removal of the videos from his campaign’s Facebook page was reported earlier on Monday by The Philadelphia Inquirer, which listed 14 videos featuring Mr. Mastriano, one of Pennsylvania’s pre-eminent election deniers, that had disappeared since April. It was not the first time that Mr. Mastriano had drawn scrutiny for what critics say is an effort to tone down his profile on social media. Last year, the group Media Matters for America reported that Mr. Mastriano had deleted more than 50 tweets promoting the conspiracy theory QAnon after Media Matters, a journalism watchdog, highlighted his role in an illegitimate election audit in Pennsylvania. But the video footage that once resided on Mr. Mastriano’s campaign Facebook page has not vanished entirely. The New York Times obtained the clips on Monday from American Bridge, a liberal group specializing in opposition research that archived them.
Here’s some more info:
Among the examples cited by the Inquirer were videos in which Mastriano claimed that the Democratic Party would engage in voter fraud in the 2020 election, denounced climate change as "ridiculous" "pop science" and called the fight to end abortion "the most important issue of our lifetime." "Heck, the weatherman can't get the weather right 24 hours out," Mastriano said regarding climate change in one of the now-deleted videos, according to the Inquirer. A former colonel in the U.S. Army and a state senator representing Pennsylvania's 33rd District, Mastriano successfully won the Republican nomination to be the gubernatorial candidate in the upcoming midterm election. He has secured the endorsement of Trump and has long supported the former president's claims about the 2020 election being stolen. He now faces the Democratic nominee, Josh Shapiro, with recent polls putting Shapiro ahead. Mastriano notably was present at the January 6, 2021, Capitol riots, with some reports indicating that he was among the attendees who went past police barricades. He has denied these reports, claiming to have stayed away from any barricades.
And for a guy who loved sticking it to the GOP establishment, this is just pathetic:
In recent weeks, for instance, Mastriano has been seeking to mend rifts within the GOP to boost his lagging fund-raising, with mixed results: After the primary, he was spotted dining with Senate Majority Leader Kim Ward, who had endorsed a rival. But two Republican PACs have already announced their plans to oppose Mastriano, calling him too extreme. Two Facebook Live videos he recorded in April and May — both since deleted — would probably not further his goal of building new relationships with Republican leaders. In them, Mastriano repeatedly lashes out at a “corrupt” GOP establishment, and puts forth a novel theory: that Republicans in Pennsylvania were working against him in the primary because they hate veterans. “That’s the reason why I’m running, because of … lying, deceitful people that lack integrity and honor like them,” Mastriano said. He urged his supporters to confront and correct his Republican detractors. “They can talk about policies, but why do they have to attack me as a person and say the things they do? Because they have this disdain and hate for veterans,” he said. “If they really respected veterans — they can disagree on policy, no problem. They can criticize me on policy. But when they make the attacks personal, call them out. Tell them, ‘This personifies your disdain for veterans.’”
FYI:
A complaint filed with the federal Internal Revenue Service is asking the agency to examine whether a West Shore church’s overstepped tax rules for non-profit entities by hosting a film premiere Saturday night that featured in-person appearances by Pennsylvania’s Republican candidate for governor, Doug Mastriano. The complaint, filed by Katherine Jarrett of Mechanicsburg, alleges that the events surrounding Saturday’s premiere of “The Return of the American Patriot: The Rise of Pennsylvania” broke prohibitions against Christ Community Church in Lower Allen Township, as a 501(c)(3), from engaging in political activity in support of a specific candidate. Jarrett appears to be one of several people to have lodged complaints. Mastriano is one of a group of conservative leaders featured in the film, in his case for his leadership both in pushing back against Gov. Tom Wolf’s 2020 pandemic shutdown orders and later in helping amplify former President Donald J. Trump’s false claims that the Pennsylvania presidential vote count in 2020 was “rigged” so that Democrat Joe Biden would win. In the film, he is one of several Pennsylvania conservative activists featured, and his 2022 candidacy is not directly mentioned though Turley touts the strength of Trump’s ‘Make America Great Again” movement as seen by the election of Republican Glenn Youngkin as VIrginia’s governor in 2021, and the special election win of Republican Mayra Flores in a Congressional seat in Texas in June.
The Philadelphia Tribune highlights Shapiro’s support from nine Republican leaders:
The Republicans involved pointed to several of Mastriano’s far-right stances in explaining their efforts to oppose him. They specifically oppose his extreme position on abortion. Mastriano supports new restrictions with no exceptions for rape, incest or the life of the pregnant woman, as well as criminal penalties for doctors and nurses who perform the procedure. They also point out Mastriano attended the Jan. 6, 2021, rally that preceded the violent attack on the U.S. Capitol and continues to insist that the 2020 election was stolen from Trump and that there was widespread election fraud in Pennsylvania that helped President Joe Biden win. “His view of the 2020 election is false,” Snyder said. “It was not a stolen election.” Snyder correctly warned that Mastriano, if elected governor, would appoint the secretary of state to oversee elections and that could lead to chaos in the 2024 presidential election. Snyder added that Mastriano, who embodies the Christian nationalist movement, is riding a “toxic mixture of religion and politics” that crosses a long-accepted line. “We’ve got to stop him, and I think he can be stopped,” Snyder said. The Philadelphia Inquirer reported that the Mastriano campaign has deleted more than a dozen videos from social media sites and his website that espouse his extremist views. The controversial posts include tweets promoting the Qanon conspiracy theory and a plan to lift medical privacy restrictions so the government could disclose the names and locations of people with COVID-19. More mainstream Republicans and independents should join the effort to stop extremist Doug Mastriano from becoming governor of Pennsylvania.
But of course the GOP establishment is still going to try and help Mastriano out:
Larry Ceisler, a Pennsylvania-based public affairs consultant who is backing Shapiro, said the early polls are a blessing in disguise because they have made some Democrats realize Mastriano could win. “Most people are in a little bubble, where they talk to one other and say, ‘Boy, there’s no way Doug Mastriano can beat Josh Shapiro.’ Well, you know what? Those people don’t get off the turnpike,” he said, referring to the interstate highway that crosses Pennsylvania. “It wakes some people as to: It’s a real campaign, and yes, there really are people who are for Doug Mastriano, and this is not going to be a walk in the park.” Some Pennsylvania GOP power players, suddenly feeling more positive, have privately and publicly encouraged the Republican Governors Association to take another look at Mastriano and consider helping him financially. After Mastriano’s victory in the spring, the RGA released a statement suggesting that the group would stay out of the race for the time being, though it left the door open to reversing course if the contest became close. “Pennsylvania is a pivotal state. It’s going to play an enhanced role in the 2024 elections,” said Charlie Gerow, a Republican strategist who ran against Mastriano in this year’s gubernatorial primary. “For them to not be involved here would be a dereliction of duty.” Mastriano, who at times has been as critical of establishment Republicans as the Democratic Party, is making a renewed effort to appeal to the RGA’s wealthy contributors. He is attending a private donors’ retreat held by the organization this week in Aspen, where he is scheduled to speak on Tuesday alongside other gubernatorial candidates, a source familiar with his plans told POLITICO. (An RGA spokesperson said all Republican gubernatorial nominees were invited.) Mastriano also went to a Pennsylvania Republican Party meeting over the weekend, where he talked about unity, according to people there. The event was closed to the press. Though most state GOP insiders think it is unlikely in the immediate future, a cash infusion from the RGA could seriously shake up the race. Shapiro has $13.4 million in the bank, compared to Mastriano’s $400,000, according to the most recent campaign finance reports. Mastriano has not run any TV commercials in the general election, while Shapiro has flooded the airwaves with attack ads calling his opponent “way too extreme” on abortion and other issues. Asked whether the RGA will get involved in Pennsylvania’s gubernatorial race, spokesperson Chris Gustafson said the group “will continue to closely monitor the race as voters learn more about Shapiro’s extreme positions that would leave the commonwealth worse off.” Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey, the RGA co-chair, was also noncommittal about Mastriano in an interview on CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday: “Nov. 8 is a long way off. So we will be looking at this map. We will be looking at the resources we have. And we don’t know what September and October are going to hold.” Mastriano’s campaign, which has repeatedly declined to speak with mainstream media outlets, did not provide comment for this story.
Meanwhile, over in the U.S. Senate race:
Dr. Mehmet Oz, Republican candidate for U.S. Senate in his adopted state of Pennsylvania, admits his campaign has struggled to raise money and he says it’s because Democrats are “clever” while Republicans mow their lawns. Oz spoke to Fox News host Laura Ingraham on Monday, who pointed out the vast disparity in fundraising between him and his opponent, Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. John Fetterman. According to a report in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Fetterman has out-raised Oz nine to one, $9.9 million to Oz’s $1.1 million. And while Oz has also loaned $2.2 million to his campaign, Fetterman has five times more cash on hand. Asked why, Oz replied: “The Democrats have very cleverly taken all of these issues that have come up over the summer ― the Dodd decision, the concerns about guns ― and they’ve used these as excuses to raise money from the Democratic loyalists. Interestingly, when Republicans get mad, we go out and mow the lawn. Democrats, when they get mad, donate money to their party.” Then, Oz urged everyone to donate to him while claiming he doesn’t need much money anyway because he’s the better candidate: x Ingraham: He has five times as much cash on hand as you do, is that correct? Why is that?
Oz: The Democrats have very cleverly taken all these issues that have come up over the Summer and they’ve used these as excuses to raise money pic.twitter.com/30uggx3Onk — Acyn (@Acyn) July 19, 2022
FYI:
Pennsylvania's Lt. Gov. John Fetterman, the Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate, will attend a fundraiser in Philadelphia on Thursday — his first major in-person appearance since suffering a stroke two months ago. Why it matters: If Fetterman can demonstrate he's well on the road to recovery, it would be welcome news to Democrats who fear his health problems could jeopardize their chances of winning a crucial Senate seat this fall. Fetterman's wife said last month she expected him to be away from the campaign trail until July.
said last month she expected him to be away from the campaign trail until July. Fetterman briefly dialed into a Zoom event for campaign volunteers last week, which the Washington Post described as "the first unedited glimpse" of the nominee since his stroke four days before the May 17 primary. Driving the news: Thursday's fundraiser will be hosted by Democratic Jewish Outreach Pennsylvania, a person familiar with the matter told Axios. The Democratic Party's campaign arm and Sen. Bob Casey (D-Pa) will host another fundraiser for Fetterman in D.C. on Tuesday, which 11 other Democratic senators will attend — including Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Sen. Gary Peters (D-Mich.), chair of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. Fetterman himself will not attend, as he continues to limit his travel to within the state.
Others who will attend Tuesday's event include Sens. Tim Kaine (D-Va.), Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii), Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) and Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.).
Many of these senators, including Casey, Kaine and Peters, have also teamed up with Fetterman to fundraise via email.
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