Kentucky’s Republican governor and Tea Party favorite Matt Bevin has been ruling his state with a rather iron fist since winning election last year. That style of governing has brought multiple lawsuits questioning his heavy-handed use of authority to make some of the moves he has made. As crazy as some of that has been, Bevin let his lunacy fly off the rails in a speech at the Values Voters Summit on Saturday. And the target of his maniacal rhetoric will come as no surprise: Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton.
During his speech, Bevin essentially suggested it would take a bloody revolution for America to survive a potential Hillary Clinton presidency. He recounted being asked by an interviewer if the United States would survive Clinton and responded:
“I will tell you this: I do think it would be possible, but at what price? At what price? The roots of the tree of liberty are watered by what? The blood, of who? The tyrants to be sure, but who else? The patriots. Whose blood will be shed? It may be that of those in this room. It might be that of our children and grandchildren. I have nine children. It breaks my heart to think that it might be their blood that is needed to redeem something, to reclaim something, that we through our apathy and our indifference have given away.”
In other words, a Clinton presidency will be so apocalyptic we will have to fight another bloody revolution to bring liberty back to the United States. It hints at the same tones that were pushed about Barack Obama being the antichrist when he won election in 2008.
Of course, none of the nonsensical predictions with heavy religious undertones came remotely true. And with that, the religious doomsday predictors do what they will always do: set a new date and target for the end of days. It’s clear from the lunacy of Matt Bevin, that new target is now Hillary Clinton.
Bevin also stated the country was going in one direction or the other “morally, economically, from a liberty standpoint”. And I suppose he is correct. There is a presidential candidate wanting to bring back torture, wanting to run up massive debt by giving tax breaks to the wealthy, and wanting to violate the rights of anyone with brown skin or the audacity to practice their constitutionally protected right of freedom of religion.
This ridiculous rhetoric comes after some rocky weeks for Bevin. Last month, he fired a state employee for no reason and audio leaked of him suggesting there would be retribution for a Democratic lawmaker not switching parties. The Republican governor has also been trying to tear apart Kentucky’s Obamacare reforms as other states have been jumping on board in order to save tons of money in the long run.
The truly sad part of this is the possibility someone takes the Tea Party governor seriously and reacts to his words with violence. Disagreeing with the other side is one thing. Suggesting there will need to be a bloody war in order for the country to survive is a different and dangerous level of crazy and stupid. If someone were to act against Clinton, it will be everyone that talks like Matt Bevin who will be to blame for the action.