CHEWED UP, SPAT OUT

Trump Pick Suffers Humiliating Takedown on Debate Stage

“You’ve hired half the Third Reich to staff your congressional office,” the rising Democratic star told his opponent.

Donald Trump’s pick in a hard-fought Senate race in Georgia has suffered a humiliating takedown in a fiery debate in Atlanta with Democratic rising star Sen. Jon Ossoff.

In an exchange dominated by personal attacks, Rep. Mike Collins, 59, was called out by Ossoff, 39, for his family members and congressional staff who have expressed extreme white nationalist views. He was also accused of being a “Trump-puppet election denier.”

During his opening remarks at the hour-long Atlanta News First debate on Thursday, Ossoff said, “Mike Collins has brought dishonor to our state through his personal bigotry and his widely documented ties to white nationalists.”

Collins’ son-in-law David Alan Scheer II, has shared Nazi imagery online, according to The Washington Post, while a former staffer posted a swastika and a photo of himself in Klu Klux Klan robes on his social media this year.

Scheer, who has featured heavily on Collins’ campaign, is married to the controversial Republican’s daughter Summer. Scheer has blamed Jews for “porn” and “killing JFK,” as well as orchestrating both the 9/11 attacks and the fatal shooting of Charlie Kirk, according to CNN.

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“There’s nothing wrong with White Nationalism,” Scheer told a user in the comments section under one of his online videos.

At least two of Collins’ campaign-appointed leaders, Joshua Mote and Michael Boggus, have links to American Patriots USA, a far-right group founded by Chester Doles, a former Ku Klux Klan and neo-Nazi National Alliance leader.

“You’ve hired half the Third Reich to staff your congressional office and you have promoted neo-Nazi content online,” Ossoff told Collins during Thursday’s debate. “If John Lewis were marching today from Selma to Montgomery, Mike Collins would be grabbing a billy club.”

Lewis was an American civil rights leader and politician who led the march from Selma, Alabama, in 1965 that was halted by police violence in an incident known as “Bloody Sunday.”

When the moderator on Thursday asked Collins what he has said to his daughter and son-in-law about the disturbing posts, and asked him to “once and for all, denounce white supremacy,” the Republican said, “You know...that’s my family.”

The Republican said Ossoff has been “spewing” remarks against him and his family, then referenced a death threat against himself and his son-in-law that led to the arrest of a man in New York this month.

Collins said, “I’ve condemned racism, antisemitism, hate. I don’t care where the source is. And I tell him [Scheer] that, too. It’s wrong. We have no place in this world for that.”

The Republican added, “That’s not me. When I had things happen, I’m a businessman. I fired ’em. I got rid of them. Don’t need them.

Ossoff fired back, “Imagine running for the U.S. Senate, while neo-Nazi propaganda is disseminated to an audience of millions from your home. That’s Mike Collins.”

“And it’s not just those around him.” Ossoff added. “Mike Collins himself has amplified neo-Nazi propaganda online. Mike Collins’ office intervened at the Department of Justice on behalf of a Holocaust denier, while his office was in cahoots with some of the nation’s most notorious white supremacists. Mike Collins is a bigot and it’s disqualifying for a candidate for the U.S. Senate.”

The Democrat also put Collins on the spot over his history of supporting Trump’s fantasy that he won the 2020 presidential election.

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“Mike Collins is one of the most extreme members of Congress,” Ossoff said. “He’s a Trump-puppet election denier. I want to hear if Mike still believes the 2020 election was stolen. What do you say, Mike?”

Collins stared down at his notes and did not look up or answer the question, while the moderator changed the topic and asked him an unrelated question.

In 2022, Collins posted a campaign ad where he falsely claimed that Trump had won Georgia two years earlier and said, “Georgians are tired of weak-kneed, spineless politicians who won’t fight for Trump, get to the bottom of 2020 and fix our elections.”

The ad ended with Collins firing a long gun into a bin with a “voting machine” label.

Ossoff and Collins will face off again in another debate next Tuesday.

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