PENNSYLVANIA — Today, the Pennsylvania Democratic Party is calling on Lou Barletta to renounce the support and endorsement of far-right conspiracy theorist and former radio host Rose Tennent. Barletta said “it’s an honor and a privilege” to have Tennent’s support, despite her long history of hateful comments and support for the deadly insurrection on January 6th.
Tennent’s history of problematic beliefs is well documented — in 2010, Tennent called Barack Obama “the antichrist” and said “all the insects and the rodents come out for” Obama “like they’re attracted to the devil or something.”
Earlier this year, Tennent — who was present at the Capitol during the insurrection — defended the attack, saying “at some point, people break” and since the insurrection failed to overthrow the government, “Satan now has a stronghold on our Naitons Capitol.” Tennent has also spread wild theories about the insurrection, leaning into the “who killed Ashli Babbit” conspiracy — saying to Alan Dershowitz in an April interview “Why was she shot? Who shot her? And it’s just very frustrating that that has been kept secret.”
Despite Tennent’s well-known record, Barletta still enthusiastically accepted her endorsement.
“Hatred, racism, and violence have no place in our democracy — but Lou Barletta says ‘it’s an honor and a privilege’ to have the endorsement of far-right conspiracy theorist Rose Tennent,” said Pennsylvania Democratic Party spokesman Brendan Welch. “Tennent is an insurrectionist and conspiracy theorist who defended the deadly attack on the U.S. Capitol and called voters who supported Barack Obama ‘insects and rodents.’ Accepting an endorsement from her is a slap in the face to Pennsylvanians and Barletta should renounce her support immediately.”
Barletta has fully embraced the Big Lie and baseless conspiracy theories in the first few months of his campaign. Barletta has falsely claimed that “dead people have been voting in Pennsylvania for a long time. […] They can mail in their ballots from the cemetery,” and when asked whether Joe Biden legitimately won the 2020 election, Barletta responded, “can anybody really say?”
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