After being removed from Facebook and flagged on Twitter, Eric Greitens’ so-called “RINO hunting” ad campaign continues to be the hot topic for Capitol Hill pundits.
Tuesday’s episode of “Morning Joe” had Joe Scarborough lambasting any member of the GOP still standing with the Missouri Republican Senate candidate’s campaign video, which showcases a militarized squad of men on a “hunt” and breaking into someone’s home.
“Join the MAGA crew, get a RINO (Republican in Name Only) hunting permit,” the ad says.
“This is fascism!” Scarborough said in yesterday’s installment. “I tried to bring this up, and there were a couple people being polite yesterday going, ‘Well, you know, maybe we shouldn’t call it fascism. I don’t know whether it is fascism.’ It’s fascism! This is using violence and violent imagery to basically tell people, ‘Vote for me. A civil war is coming.’”
Greitens was governor of the state before he resigned in 2018 amid a growing personal and political scandals. He announced his run to replace the outgoing Roy Blunt in the U.S. Senate in 2020.
And for those Republican leaders who are remaining silent, Scarborough had choice words: “It’s where the Republican Party is right now. Every Republican needs to call this out unless they want fascism to continue to rise in their party.”
The RINO ad comes at a particularly contentious period in American politics, which his seeing a push for gun reform in the aftermath of the shooting in Uvalde, Texas, and heightened gun violence nationwide.
“We’re talking about the rise of American fascism,” Scarborough said. “You can look at January 6th. You can look at ads like this. You can look at the continued use of violence and imagery. You can look at Donald Trump telling his audience members to beat up people in the audience that disagree with him. It’s fascism.”