An Oklahoma state legislator says he was merely making a funny joke when he said Hillary Clinton should be executed by firing squad. When he got a call from a reporter, though, Rep. John Bennett accused Clinton of “treason” and insisted, again, that people should die for that. Bennett previously wrote a Facebook post urging people to be “especially wary” of Muslim-Americans.
In a now-deleted post on his personal Facebook page, Bennett posted a link to a story by nutty ex-Congressman Allen West about Benghazi and Clinton’s role in it. Bennett included a comment of his own: “2 words … firing squad.”
Bennett is the latest politician to openly and clearly “joke” about Hillary Clinton being murdered. Senator Richard Burr joked about someone shooting her, while Donald Trump’s veterans advisor, New Hampshire State Representative Al Baldasaro, also argued she should be tried and executed for treason. And like Baldasaro, Bennett struck a confused yet defiant tone when asked about his comments by a reporter for The Oklahoman:
She has committed nothing less than treason by leaving fellow Americans to die in Benghazi,” Bennett said. “If anyone else had done that they would be charged with treason and thrown under the jail at a minimum, and a firing squad likely.”
In another text message Bennett said he “wouldn’t wish death on anyone. It just frustrates me to no end that these folks were abandoned in Benghazi.”
Bennett told the news station KFOR the same thing: that of course he wasn’t calling for Clinton to die, but also shouldn’t people die for things like what he says she did?
“I am not advocating to shoot, hurt or kill Hillary Clinton or anyone else. That is not what I meant by that. I was using the firing squad words to refer to what the punishment is for treason. Hillary Clinton has committed nothing less than treason by knowingly leaving our American troops over there to die,” he said.
Bennett’s Facebook is a stew of conservative memes, conspiracy theories, and half-truths. The last time it got him in trouble was 2014, when he claimed that Muslim-Americans are out to kill Christians (“The Quran clearly states that non Muslims should be killed. Arab is the ethnicity, not Muslim or Islam. Be wary of the individuals who claim to be ‘Muslim American.’ Be especially wary if you are Christian.”) The Council on American-Islamic Relations asked for an apology from Bennett, which they did not receive.