Mark McCloskey, Who Pointed A Gun At BLM Protesters Outside His Mansion, Announces His Senate Run

Photo via @Mark__McCloskey/Twitter

May 19, 2021, 10:20 am

The man who became famous overnight for pointing a large gun at passing Black Lives Matter protesters with his wife (who was also pointing a gun) has announced a run for the U.S. senate. Not state senate—he’s skipping all the way to federal congress, riding on the claims that he defended his mansion from “the mob” while also trying to portray himself as a simple farmer in his very own campaign ad.

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Mark McCloskey, a Missouri attorney, went viral in a photo of himself and his wife aiming runs at a crowd of protesters that was marching through his wealthy neighborhood to confront the local mayor. In the ad, as he drives around his little tractor and looks at a horse, he claims that the protesters specifically came to his doorstep “to destroy my house and kill my family.”

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An angry mob marched to destroy my home and kill my family, I took a stand to defend them.

I am a proven fighter against the mob

When the mob comes to destroy our home, our state, our nation— I’ll defend it

I will NEVER BACK DOWN

Help me FIGHT BACK https://t.co/8N8o1yxN6C pic.twitter.com/jR8ieWdkCc

— Mark McCloskey (@Mark__McCloskey) May 19, 2021

McCloskey has been spending his post-pointing-guns-at-protesters life campaigning for Donald Trump and making appearances on various right-wing talk shows. He officially announced his senate run on Tucker Carlson’s show on Fox News on Monday to go after the seat of the retiring Sen. Roy Blunt.

“I’ve always been a Republican, but I’ve never been a politician,” he told Carlson. “But God came knocking on my door last summer disguised as an angry mob.”

So he threatened to kill God? As the kids say, weird flex.

His campaign slogan appears to be “Never Back Down,” a statement repeated in his three-minute campaign video among Trumpian talking points such as “the swamp in D.C.” as well as phrases that sure sound like white supremacist dog whistles.

“Big tech, big business, the swamp in D.C. are all working together to destroy our God-given freedom, our culture, and our heritage,” says McCloskey while coming out of a small building on his acres of property.

He then complains about politicians creating “division,” citing “black vs. white, rich vs. poor.” It’s not clear what part of pointing guns at a passing rally of mostly low-income young people saying that Black Lives Matter was meant to unify these groups. Later, as he calls these BIPOC kids fascists, he shakes his head at some signs reading “Black Lives Matter” and “Defund the Police” while supporting Rep. Cori Bush in what looks like a neglected neighborhood, warning that this will be “the future of America.”

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“The mob is coming for all of us,” he says. “Cancel culture, the poison of critical race theory, the lie of systemic racism backed up by the threat of mob violence, attacks on the Second Amendment, erosion of election integrity are all intentionally designed to destroy all we hold near and dear.”

McCloskey and his wife are still facing charges of unlawful use of a weapon as well as evidence tampering over the incident on June 1, 2020, and are scheduled to stand trial in November. We’ll find out then whether this whole campaign was a massive waste of his time and money, though clearly, he has plenty of both to throw around.

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*First Published: May 19, 2021, 10:20 am