GOP congressional candidate Ryan Zinke: Hillary Clinton is the "anti-Christ"

The former Navy SEAL urges his fellow conservatives to focus on "the real enemy"

Published January 31, 2014 8:45PM (EST)

  (AP/Cliff Owen)
(AP/Cliff Owen)

According to a reportfrom the Huffington Post, Ryan Zinke, a candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives in Montana, recently called on his fellow conservatives to "focus on the real enemy." Iran? Al Qaeda? North Korea? Nope! By "real enemy," Zinke meant, of course, the "anti-Christ."

But you may know her better as former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

In addition to calling the potential 2016 presidential candidate the personification of pure evil, Zinke also went on to rail against President Obama (not quite the anti-Christ, apparently; maybe more of a demon of some sort) and Director of National Intelligence James Clapper (supernatural status: unknown).

Referring to Obama's infamous "If you like your plan, you can keep it" line on healthcare reform, as well as Clapper's "least untruthful" answer to Congress during an inquiry on the activities of the NSA, Zinke said it was "time to stop the lies."

"Let’s talk about the truth," he continued. "Who trusts the U.S. government? No one in this room. I’ve served in 25 nations. I’ve seen where people don’t trust their government. We're there. In the military, the last option is to send in the SEALs."

While Zinke's complaints over Obama and Clapper's dishonesty reside much closer to objective reality than his attack on Clinton, it appears this is not the first time he's been responsible for incendiary rhetoric.

HuffPo also reports that in 2012, Zinke, who is a member of the Montana state Senate, formed a super PAC called "Special Operations for America that opposed President Barack Obama."

A statement announcing the existence of the group claimed that "Navy SEALs, Special Operations Personnel and Veterans across America have been outraged since Barack Obama conveniently took credit for killing Osama Bin Laden for political gain." It went on to complain that "active duty military has no voice as they are forbidden to publicly engage in the political campaign process and it is career suicide for senior military leaders to speak out against the President."

Zinke is just one of many Republicans vying to replace Rep. Steve Daines, who himself is hoping to replace Sen. Max Baucus, so it's far from clear whether this former SEAL will soon be walking the streets of the nation's capitol. But if he does win, devils, demons, and former senators/secretaries of state everywhere will no doubt think twice about bringing forth the apocalypse.


By Elias Isquith

Elias Isquith is a former Salon staff writer.

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