Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves (R) announced this week he will seek a second term as a governor by posting a wannabe Clint Eastwood themed video, where all he does is shoot people.
In the 13-second video posted on Twitter, Reeves’ face is superimposed on Eastwood’s in clips from the classic Dollars trilogy movies. He’s seen cosplaying the white anti-hero, the Man with No Name, shooting at Mexican bandits with a Colt revolver and puffing on a cigarillo.
The violent and cringe video came the same day Reese kicked off his campaign officially with an event in Gulfport, followed by a Wednesday campaign rally and lunch in Richland.
During the Wednesday event, Reeves spoke to a crowd of more than 200 people, saying he’s not just facing a Democratic opponent but the “national liberal machine” that’s supposedly out to get Mississippi.
“My friends, this is a different governor’s campaign than we have ever seen before in our state because we are not up against a local-yokel Mississippi Democrat, we are up against a national liberal machine,” Reeves said at his second campaign kickoff event. “They are extreme. They are radical and vicious. They believe welfare is success. They believe that taxes are good and businesses are bad. They think boys can be girls, that babies have no life, and that our state and our nation are racist.”
The sinister campaign theme of fighting off an evil other has been embraced by other Republicans this election cycle, most notably by Donald Trump, as the party continues to embrace culture war red meat and far-right conspiracy theories as campaign platforms.
During his speech, the incumbent governor also emphasized his record in the past term and went after blue states that, he claims, have lost jobs to Mississippi.
“I have a message for all those governors in New York and California and Illinois: Mississippi is coming to take your jobs, and we have no intention of giving them back,” Reeves said.
“Help us one more time … Let’s defeat the national liberals. This is Mississippi’s moment. This is Mississippi’s time,” he added.
