Doug Mastriano is so extreme that Republicans are comparing him to “Jim Jones in Guyana.” Former GOP Congressman Ryan Costello recently said he is “absolutely of the fringe.”
PENNSYLVANIA — Doug Mastriano is so extreme that even his own party is worried. One GOP insider described the feeling amongst Republicans as “a pep rally before a football game everyone knows the team is doomed to lose,” with another simply adding “no one wanted him.”
Mastriano continues to spread baseless election lies, has regularly invoked comparisons to Nazi Germany on the campaign trail, and has promoted and associated with QAnon conspiracy theorists. He is so extreme that Pennsylvania Republicans compared their nominee to “Jim Jones in Guyana” and said he “comes across as a cult guy” in a new POLITICO article.
The article describes part of Mastriano’s extreme and dangerous agenda succinctly:
He said his opposition to abortion rights includes no exceptions for rape, incest or the life of the mother. He wants to require voters to reregister. And as he begins his general election campaign — a turn in the race where most candidates in a swing state would begin courting moderate, suburban voters — Mastriano is instead generating headlines like these: “Doug Mastriano doubles down on comparing U.S. gun control to Nazi Germany” and “Doug Mastriano shared an image claiming Roe v. Wade is ‘so much’ worse than the Holocaust.”
“Doug Mastriano is obsessed with taking us backward — he cares more about abortion bans and dangerous conspiracy theories than tackling the real issues that Pennsylvanians face — and even Republicans think he’s too extreme for our Commonwealth,” said Pennsylvania Democratic Party spokesperson Marisa Nahem. “Mastriano is so beyond the pale that his own party is now comparing him to an infamous cult leader. Mastriano has spent months spreading conspiracy theories, obsessing over the 2020 presidential election and is hellbent on taking away Pennsylvanians’ rights — from outlawing abortion with no exceptions to de-registering every Pennsylvania voter. It’s no wonder Republicans are worried.”
Instead of focusing on the issues on Pennsylvanians’ minds — like lowering costs, improving education, and keeping our communities safe — Mastriano spent the first month of the general election attracting attention for his repeated Holocaust comparisons, including doubling down on comments equating gun control efforts to Nazi Germany, and his unearthed 2001 Master’s thesis where he warned of “a left-wing ‘Hitlerian Putsch’ that would begin with the dismantling of the U.S. military and end with the destruction of the country’s democracy.”
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