{"id":587177,"date":"2026-04-21T11:48:26","date_gmt":"2026-04-21T11:48:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/?p=587177"},"modified":"2026-04-21T11:48:26","modified_gmt":"2026-04-21T11:48:26","slug":"democratic-running-to-flip-pennsylvania-seat-apologizes-for-pro-gun-and-pro-police-posts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/?p=587177","title":{"rendered":"Democratic running to flip Pennsylvania seat apologizes for pro-gun and pro-police posts"},"content":{"rendered":"
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A radical-endorsed Democrat running to flip a Pennsylvania congressional seat found himself boarding the apology train after posts surfaced supporting the police and the Second Amendment.<\/p>\n

As part of President Donald Trump\u2019s 2024 swing state sweep, the Keystone State\u2019s 7th congressional district was won by now-Rep. Ryan Mackenzie (R), unseating then-three-term Rep. Susan Wild (D). With less than a month remaining before the May primary, the Democrat infighting found retired firefighter Bob Brooks apologizing for \u201cstupid things\u201d he\u2019s shared, like the fact that guns aren\u2019t responsible for killing people and Colin Kaepernick is a \u201cdouchebag.\u201d<\/p>\n

Referencing recent reporting on the posts by the Lehigh Valley Ramblings blog<\/a>, the Washington Post covered<\/a> the past social media activity of the president of the Pennsylvania Professional Fire Fighters Association (PPFFA), backed by Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders (I), former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg (D), and Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro (D).<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve shared a few stupid things over the years, and for that I am sorry. I believe who I\u2019ve fought for and my values have always been clear,\u201d said Brooks, who hopes to win the seat that encompasses the counties of Carbon, Lehigh, and Northampton with cities like Allentown, Bethlehem, and Easton, as well as parts of Monroe County.<\/p>\n

He further argued, \u201cA bunch of DC insiders who don\u2019t want more working people in office are selectively digging up years-old Facebook posts.\u201d<\/p>\n

Following a 2019 tragedy where 23 people were killed, and 22 more were injured at an El Paso Walmart, to which Patrick Crusius pled guilty to federal hate crime charges, a narrative about disparate justice<\/a> circulated. Amid that, Brooks posted a meme featuring Clint Eastwood from the film \u201cGran Torino\u201d that read, \u201cThe problem is not guns. It\u2019s hearts without God, homes without discipline, schools without prayer, and courtrooms without justice.\u201d<\/p>\n

Embedded imagery associated with an anti-government militia group led a spokesperson for the candidate to convey that Brooks \u201cwishes he never made\u201d the post and had \u201czero awareness\u201d of the included logo for the Three Percenters.<\/p>\n

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Image via Facebook<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Amid Black Lives Matter riots that swept the country in 2020\u2019s \u201cSummer of Love,\u201d Brooks expressed defense for police, referencing the first responders of Sept. 11, 2001, and those on duty during the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing, as he said, \u201cI guess we have forgotten the good ones.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWanting change within the police departments to weed out the bad cops is fine. But please remember the good ones,\u201d he argued.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, as Colin Kaepernick raised a stink in the NFL with protests of the National Anthem and the inclusion of the Betsy Ross flag on Nike shoes, Brooks said, \u201cColin Kaepernick doesn\u2019t like this flag, so I\u2019m gonna share it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe first thing in a long time both democrats and republicans are doing together! Thanks douchebag for helping bring the country together again on something,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Responding to the article, Nick Mattes, the campaign manager for Ryan Crosswell, one of Brooks\u2019 primary opponents, likened the candidate to Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman (D) and said, \u201cPennsylvania voters aren\u2019t gonna be fooled again.\u201d In addition to the firefighter and former prosecutor, the other candidates in the Democratic primary are former Northampton County executive Lamont McClure and former senior advisor to then-Sen. Bob Casey (D) Carol Obando-Derstine.<\/p>\n

<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A radical-endorsed Democrat running to flip a Pennsylvania congressional seat found himself boarding the apology train after posts surfaced supporting the police and the Second Amendment. As part of President Donald Trump\u2019s 2024 swing state sweep, the Keystone State\u2019s 7th congressional district was won by now-Rep. Ryan Mackenzie (R), unseating then-three-term Rep. Susan Wild (D).… Continue reading Democratic running to flip Pennsylvania seat apologizes for pro-gun and pro-police posts<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":587178,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[17,22,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-587177","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-border-security","category-immigration","category-immigration-reform","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/587177","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=587177"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/587177\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/587178"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=587177"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=587177"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=587177"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}