GOP Politician Torched For ‘Creepy And Weird’ Video Of Himself Lighting A Mask On Fire

Photo via @JoshMandelOhio/Twitter

June 2, 2021, 11:24 am

Josh Mandel, a Republican politician whose campaign for a seat on the U.S. senate is reportedly not going so well, might be trying to boost his image with a recently tweeted video of himself lighting a mask on fire in some stairwell and walking away, hopefully before returning to put it out. Rather than getting him a lot of praise and money as he probably hoped, Mandel has been hit with all the pent-up annoyance leftover from the lifting of CDC mask recommendations for vaccinated persons.

Featured Video
Hide

The video itself is silent and only nine seconds long, but captioned with the word “FREEDOM” as though he was breaking chains and not wasting lighter fluid for a publicity stunt that has already been done to death by Republicans. The video is now his pinned tweet.

Advertisement
Hide

Mandel, who describes himself as the “1st Statewide Official in Ohio to support President Trump,” has been an anti-masker and helped spread falsehoods about the coronavirus pandemic for pretty much the entire time, likely helping the illness to spread and kill many more people. In addition to his asinine video, he recently posted a tweet comparing an inquiry into whether or not he received the vaccine to Nazi Germany asking people for “papers.”

Meanwhile, he was so excited about his little mask-burning video that he noticed Jake Tapper retweeted it and then un-retweeted it soon after, claiming that “his Democrat Party handlers told him it hurt their feelings so he unposted it.” As it turns out, Tapper had just decided on his own to add a caption pointing out that Mandel is an actual candidate for the senate.

I un-RTed it so as to redo it with a line explaining to people who you are. Everything else you wrote is a lie.

— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) June 2, 2021

If he didn’t like that, Mandel is definitely not going to enjoy an entire list pulled from the thousands of mocking comments and quote tweets, much like this one right here:

1.

Advertisement
Hide

2.

Next up, Josh Mandel symbolically takes flamethrower to a seatbelt, and explodes a box of Penicillin.

— pwithm11 (@pwtham11) June 2, 2021

3.

Democrats are passing COVID relief, getting vaccines to all Americans, working on infrastructure, supporting the care economy, adding millions of jobs, transitioning to renewables.

The leading Republicans Senate candidate in Ohio is busy lighting a mask on fire in a stairwell. https://t.co/o92A9nc9I8

— Brian Tyler Cohen (@briantylercohen) June 2, 2021

4.

Thank you sir!! I’m TIRED of the lobbyists and donors of ‘Big Mask’ destroying this country https://t.co/08iORstvFg

— Secular Talk (@KyleKulinski) June 2, 2021

5.

6.

Advertisement
Hide

7.

I can’t with this fool thinking he’s tough & fierce for burning his mask.

Sweetie, all I see here is a giant toddler marinated in ignorance throwing a temper tantrum. #WearAMask https://t.co/YIPVZAH2r9

— Plastic Martyr (@plasticmartyr) June 2, 2021

8.

Wait…was that supposed to make you look tough? Like a freedom fighter? You burned a mask?

I remember our patients leaving the COVID Field Hospital in NYC last year. One guy couldn’t lift his arms to scratch his nose after 8 weeks of fighting the disease. You’re super tough.

— Fred Wellman (@FPWellman) June 2, 2021

9.

10.

11.

Advertisement
Hide

12.

13.

Everything about this vid is weird an creepy. The setting. The action. The cinematography. The end. The face. But more than anything, the very concept and idea. Like, you did this and thought “Nailed it.” https://t.co/bFbHH6U1am

— Lord Travis McElroy, The Internet’s Best Friend (@travismcelroy) June 2, 2021

14.

I really thought at first this was some kind of Steve Carell spoof. But no, it’s an actual GOP politician, who other actual people will cast actual ballots for. https://t.co/mxe76zYFKf

— Jeff Sharlet (@JeffSharlet) June 2, 2021

15.

Pages: 1 2

Share this article

*First Published: June 2, 2021, 11:24 am