“They use their media to assassinate real news,” the woman’s voice says scornfully. “They use their schools to teach children that their president is another Hitler. They use their movie stars and singers and comedy shows and award shows to repeat their narrative over and over again.” It may sound like an excerpt from North Korean state television railing against evil Americans, but these are the opening lines of a new recruitment video by the National Rifle Association (NRA) that is headlined by conservative television host Dana Loesch, the Washington Post reports. The Blaze personality and NRA spokeswoman paints a stark picture of the U.S. political climate that some have interpreted as an ad designed to provoke fear, if not incite violence.
The video is just over one minute long, but it has received more than 3.3 million views, thousands of comments and shares, and lots of controversy. “I’m an old white guy and a life member, but this BS is disgusting,” Facebook user Eric Eugene Rush commented. “When you spew crap like this, you don’t speak for me any more. I try to avoid doing things on the spur of the moment, but I’ll be thinking about canceling my membership.” “Jeesus … it almost looks like you’re encouraging violence against demonstrators,” Steve van der Lacy wrote. “Just let the police do their jobs when or if protests get out of hand.” The video elicited a strong reaction from Black Lives Matter activist DeRay Mckesson, who called it “an open call to violence to protect white supremacy.”