Meet John Bennett: The Oklahoma Republican Party's Very Special Chairman
The Sooner GOP looked at Allen West and said, "Hold my beer . . ."
The 2022 Republican freak show has been dominated so far by Allen West, the Arizona Cyber Ninjas, and Josh Mandel, but donāt sleep on Oklahoma GOP Chairman John Bennett.
Bennett is in the news for a bizarre Facebook post in which he asks Oklahomans to call the lieutenant governor and demand a special session of the state legislature be convened to āaddress private employer vaccine mandates.ā Using the image of a yellow Holocaust Star of David, Bennett urged readers to āWAKE UPā asking āIs this sounding familiar?
The Washington Post reports:
The Nazis āgave [Jews] a star to put on, and they couldnāt go to the grocery store, they couldnāt go out in public, they couldnāt do anything without having that star on their shirt,ā Bennett said. āTake away the star and add a vaccine passport.ā
Bennettās request was rebuffed and condemned by Oklahoma Republicans. But he was undeterred: He released a video in which he doubled down, and then some.
Who is John Bennett? Just another great Republican Patriot.
He graduated from high school in Oklahoma, joined the Marines and served in Iraq and Afghanistan. Then, he came back, got a communications degree from the University of Phoenix (nota bene: not the ASU campus in Phoenix) and got himself elected to the Oklahoma state house. As a legislator, his signature accomplishment was mandating āthat public schools recite the Pledge of Allegiance at least once a week.ā
Also, he hates Muslims, like a lot. After four terms, Bennett left the Oklahoma House, citing a self-imposed term limit. He became a Pentecostal pastor and was then elected chair of the Oklahoma GOP earlier this year.
But letās get back to that six minute video Bennett posted, because it might be the purest distillation of modern conservatism yet produced.
The film opens with a focus on Bennettās handgun, which sits on his desk in a holster.
Bennett then rambles on about communism, Cuba, mask mandates, and mandated vaccinations. He is concerned about the idea of 3-year-olds getting vaccinatedāhere he name-checks Anthony Fauci, because, whateverāand seems blissfully unaware that 3-year-old kids get lots of (non-politicized) vaccines. Have a look!
Bennett continues, saying that the government is closing businesses and churches, but that Republicans should be protecting businesses from liability if people contract COVID while patronizing them.
Then, Bennett goes back to the Holocaust. He says that if people donāt do something about whatās going on, the pandemic will yield the āsame result.ā
Yikes.
But Bennett isnāt finished. He transitions to the ā500 patriotsā who were arrested as a result of their mighty deeds on January 6. And he laments that even while these great Americans were pinched by the Deep State, ānot oneā of the Antifa protestors was ever prosecuted.
Conspiracy!
Last but not least, Bennettās video points to an article from Trevor Loudon about communists in the U.S. Congress.
Loudon, if youāve never heard of him, is a fellow from New Zealand who is āa self-described student of the Zenith Applied Philosophy which has a world view which is a combination of Scientology, Eastern mysticism, and the ideas of the American John Birch Society.ā
Good to know whatās on the reading list of the head of the Oklahoma Republican party.
When Republican institutions go crazy in blue states, itās blamed on the left. Look what they have to put up with. The Libz made them do it.
And when Republican institutions go crazy in more evenly-divided states, like weāve seen with Allen West in Texas, the explanation is that with the stakes being so high, Republicans need someone who will "fight."
But Oklahoma is a solidly red state. Its legislature has 121 Republicans between the House and Senate and 28 Democrats. There are no stakes. The Republican party in Oklahoma has the luxury to be whatever it wants to be.
And it chooses to be John Bennett.
