Former Missouri Governor and current U.S. Senate candidate Eric Greitens released a campaign ad Monday that many people say is a call to incite violence.
In the ad, a gun-wielding Greitens goes "RINO hunting." RINO, which stands for Republicans In Name Only, refers to more moderate conservatives who don't support Donald Trump. Many people responded to the ad, which he posted on Twitter, saying it was threatening and violent.
In his tweet, he wrote, "We are sick and tired of the Republicans in Name Only surrendering to Joe Biden & the radical Left." The ad shows an armed Greitens with a camoflauged swat team breaking into a home, as Greitens calls on viewers to get a RINO hunting permit with no bagging or tagging limits.
The politician is facing backlash from other state officials and political scientists. Dr. David Romano, chair of Political Science at Missouri State University, said media like this can incite lone wolf attacks.
"It strikes me as the height of irresponsiblity," he told KMOX. "It socializes people into a mindset that makes them amenable to recruitment into extremist organizations, which I think this could do."
Romano added that, while he's seen other campaign ads that appear to glorify armed citizens, this is "a step above" because it tries to identify "traitors."
Facebook later removed the video “for violating our policies prohibiting violence and incitement.” Twitter left the video up saying it was "in the public's interest" for it to remain accessible, but included a disclaimer saying it violated rules about abusive behavior.
Greitens resigned from his position as governor in 2018 after he was accused of sexually assaulting a woman and blackmailing her. Recently, his ex-wife Sheena Chestnut Greitens accused him of abuse of both her and their sons. She alleges that he hid a gun in their house, threatened to kill himself if she didn't publicly support him, and was physically abusive to their children, saying one of them came home from a weekend with him with bruises on his face.
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Greitens faces challengers like Rep. Vicky Hartzler and Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt in the Senate race. At least eight polls from the last eight months show Greitens taking the lead.
Greitens did not immediately respond to KMOX's request for comment.