Comedian John Oliver on Monday’s episode of the political satire show Last Week Tonight ripped San Antonio-area U.S. House candidate Brandon Herrera over his history of posting provocative social media content.
Oliver primarily focused on a widely circulated video from Herrera’s gun-focused YouTube channel, where the Republican candidate for Texas’ 23rd District reviews a German World War II-era MP 40 submachine gun and calls it the “original ghetto blaster” and “Hitler’s stress sweeper.”
“It does feel that the Republican Party has been getting way too comfortable with some, at best, Nazi-adjacent shit,” Oliver said on his long-running HBO show.
The video from Herrera’s YouTube channel then shows Herrera and an associate goose-stepping to a song popular during the Nazi era. Heavily associated with the Nazis, goose-step marching was abolished during the 1990 German reunification.
Herrera, a Second Amendment advocate known to his fans as the “AK Guy,” boasts more than 4.3 million subscribers to his YouTube channel. Its content primarily revolves around gun reviews.
Herrera has faced scrutiny over a series of provocative remarks and videos, including a revelation on his podcast that he owns an original copy of Hitler’s manifesto Mein Kampf. He’s also taken flak for making degrading comments about overweight women, joking about veteran suicides and referring to children as “cum trophies.”
Herrera is in a widely watched midterm race against Democrat Katy Padilla Stout, a former public school teacher whose campaign has focused on the shortcomings of Gov. Greg Abbott’s voucher scheme and the affordability crisis. She has also called out Herrera for shooting a video in which he fires bullets into cutouts of children at a location near the site of the Robb Elementary School massacre in the district’s town of Uvalde.
Early voting continues through Oct. 30. Polls will reopen on Election Day, Nov. 3. Information on polling locations and hours is available at the Bexar County Elections Department’s website.
Texas politics is a mess. We make it a readable mess.
Sign up for San Antonio Current’s new “Texas Politics This Week” newsletter.
Sign Up for SA Current newsletters.
Follow us: Apple News | Google News | NewsBreak | Reddit | Instagram | Facebook | Twitter | Or sign up for our RSS Feed
