The NRA board member remains a horrible, horrible person.
In an election cycle that has seen unprecedented levels of nastiness and unhinged vitriol, we can always count on Ted Nugent to drag our national discourse down a little further. Nugent, no stranger to controversy, posted a video on Facebook this week depicting Bernie Sanders murdering Hillary Clinton with a handgun during a Democratic presidential debate. Nugent added the comment, “I got your guncontrol right here bitch!,” along with a link to the video on YouTube. He also liked a comment by one follower who wrote, “Hell I’d vote for Bernie if he would actually follow through with this.”
Nugent is very popular among the anti-gun control right, with over 2.8 million followers on Facebook. He is also a frequent speaker at NRA events and is himself a member of the NRA’s board of directors. He is set to deliver a speech titled “2016 Election Do or Die for America and Freedom” at the NRA’s upcoming annual meeting.
The singer-songwriter and political activist has a long history of violent rhetoric and threatening language. In 2012 he was contacted by the Secret Service after comments he made at a rally in St. Louis, Missouri. “We need to ride into that battlefield and chop their heads off in November,” Nugent said, adding, “if Barack Obama becomes the next president in November, again, I will either be dead or in jail by this time next year.” In 2007 he threatened Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, saying during a concert “Obama, he’s a piece of shit. I told him to suck on my machine gun.” Nugent continued, “Hey Hillary, you might want to ride one of these into the sunset, you worthless bitch.”
His Facebook habits have gotten him in trouble before. Back in March Nugent posted a racist image containing racial slurs, sparking widespread condemnation. In February he was forced to apologize after posting an anti-semitic image suggesting that Jewish politicians and activists were responsible for gun control.
Nugent will face re-election to the NRA’s board of directors later this year. He is on tour with concerts starting next month.
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Image by Gage Skidmore via Flickr and a CC license