Doug Mastriano claims Josh Shapiro is ‘deliberately inciting’ crimes against him

State Sen. Doug Mastriano, the Republican nominee for governor in Pennsylvania, is hardly the first politician to play provocative victim, spouting controversial statements and acting aggrieved by the response.

Still, a Mastriano claim this week — that state Attorney General Josh Shapiro is “deliberately inciting” crime against political opponents like him — set a new standard.

Mastriano cited as proof an attack last week on U.S. Rep. Lee Zeldin, the Republican nominee for governor in New York, in which a man scratched him with a plastic keychain during a speech.

The suspect was charged and released by local law enforcement, then detained and held on federal charges. He told investigators he did not know who Zeldin was, had been drinking, and didn’t recall the incident.

Mastriano chalked the incident up to “flammable rhetoric from Democrats” like Shapiro.

“The recent assassination attempt on Rep. Lee Zeldin is part of a broader pattern of violence that is being normalized by Democrats,” Mastriano said in a statement posted to Facebook.

Mastriano knows a thing or two about flammable rhetoric; for instance, calling a guy scratching someone with a keychain an “assassination attempt.”

The state senator was in the crowd that approached the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, and has described as “a peaceful protest” what became a violent riot.

He appeared in a documentary that compared the current political climate to the Revolutionary War. He told the state Republican Party last week he is standing against “the powers of darkness.”

And he relies on Christian nationalist rhetoric, as he did in April while speaking to QAnon aficionados who believe a global cabal of Democrats and elites are trafficking children for sex and engaged in other demonic activity.

“You’re exactly the kind of people God wants to use,” Mastriano said then. “Don’t be held in bondage by those lies and tricks of the enemy. Satan sees the potential you have in Jesus Christ here to change the course of history.”

Shapiro spokesperson Will Simons said any violence is unacceptable while noting that Mastriano is in cahoots with the far-right social media platform Gab, a safe space for antisemites.

“Mastriano’s actions speak louder than his empty words ever will, and if he truly wants to speak out against political violence, he should start by breaking ties with the antisemitic, alt-right extremists on Gab,” Simons said.

Mastriano, as usual, did not respond to Clout’s hails. He speaks mostly to solicitous podcast hosts and supportive radio shows. Mastriano’s rhetoric, like his campaign, is crafted for people who want to believe what he says, not for those who might ask a question about his comments.

There was a spate of national news reports this week about Republicans like Mastriano refusing to engage with the media while campaigning for office.

Vanity Fair cited Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis locking the media out of a big party event. The Washington Post noted some Pennsylvania Republicans, including Mastriano, tried to limit who could moderate primary debates. New York Magazine recounted how Fox News host Tucker Carlson told Republicans at an event in Iowa to avoid the media.

So, some good news: Mastriano actually enjoyed a story in The Inquirer this week about some establishment Republican types — whom he railed at during the primary — warming up to him.

Not that he told us.

Instead, Mastriano shared his happiness with Steve Bannon, the former adviser to Donald Trump now convicted of contempt of Congress for refusing to comply with a subpoena from the select committee examining the Jan. 6 insurrection.

Mastriano backed into the compliment while appearing on Bannon’s podcast Wednesday.

“The Inquirer is definitely no fan of mine,” Mastriano said. “I can’t think of any fair piece they’ve given me. That was a pretty good article.”

For connoisseurs of cognitive dissonance, Clout says: “You’re welcome.”

Bannon called The Inquirer story “a bombshell” and asked if it came from Mastriano media “outreach.”

Clout had to pause the video. It’s not easy to type and laugh that hard at the same time.

Mastriano, true to form, talked around the notion of actually talking to reporters.

Mastriano’s running mate, State Rep. Carrie Lewis DelRosso, told a crowd of supporters during a campaign speech in Cambria County on Tuesday that they could take pictures but not shoot video of her remarks.

She told them she was worried about video of her or Mastriano appearing in an ad “on Fox News, saying something wrong.”

“Unfortunately, those comments that are taken out of context are the biggest problem that I see on the campaign trail,” DelRosso said in recordings obtained by Clout. “And I’m done with it. I’m absolutely done with it.”

DelRosso, who is in her first term representing a district northeast of Pittsburgh, said Shapiro has the advantage of $13 million in the bank as of last month. Mastriano’s campaign was closer to $400,000.

“That’s why I had to shut it down, because he’s waiting to get me on camera doing something wrong,” she said while pleading for campaign donations.

DelRosso won the nine-candidate Republican primary for lieutenant governor with 26% of the vote, defeating Mastriano’s pick, Teddy Daniels, who finished third. She asked Clout to email her questions about the no-video demand. We’re still waiting on answers.

Clout provides often irreverent news and analysis about people, power, and politics.