Oklahoma GOP Chair John Bennett, who is running for Congress, said he wants to put Dr. Anthony Fauci in front of a firing squad ― and the crowd at a campaign event clapped and cheered.
“We’re fighting communist Democrats, establishment RINOs!” Bennett ranted in a video that Right Wing Watch shared online Tuesday, which has now gone viral.
“We’re fighting against a system that stole the election in 2020 and nobody had been held accountable,” Bennett continued, parroting former President Donald Trump’s baseless election fraud claims. “We’re in a war with bureaucrats that have forced vaccine mandates on us, mask mandates on us.”
Bennett then railed against something he described as “wokeness confusion,” which he alleged is being pushed “down our throats now.”
Then came his sinister line about Fauci, who has been targeted by repeated death threats for his public health work during the coronavirus pandemic.
“And by the way, we should try Anthony Fauci and put him in front of a firing squad,” said Bennett, not really expanding on what crime he believes Fauci has committed.
Then he added: “And for the Secret Service, if they’re listening, I’m not advocating we kill Anthony Fauci … until he’s convicted of his crimes through a court.”
Fauci, as a highly visible U.S. health official, has spoken about the barrage of conservative criticism, vitriol and violent threats he’s received for his public health advice during the pandemic.
He called for the firing of Fox News’ Jesse Watters after the TV host in December urged young conservatives to “ambush” him and “go for the kill shot” with questions.
“The only thing that I have ever done throughout these two years is to encourage people to practice good public health practices: to get vaccinated, to be careful in public settings, to wear a mask,” Fauci said at the time.